Sergio Perez Shuts Down Max Verstappen Red Bull Struggle Claims - 'Wish The Gap Was Bigger'

Sergio Perez dismisses claims of struggles with teammate Max Verstappen at Red Bull.

May 5, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez (11) walks in the paddock before the F1 Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez has openly refuted claims of a struggle with teammate Max Verstappen following the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.

The event saw a lackluster performance from both drivers, with Verstappen finishing in 6th place – his worst finish of the 2024 season – and Perez trailing just behind in 8th place. Despite the tight qualifying margins, Perez downplayed any satisfaction with the closeness to the Dutchman, stating he would prefer a larger gap if it meant the team was performing better overall.

Perez started in 8th position and managed to maintain his place during the early laps. An aggressive move on Lap 31 allowed him to overtake George Russell into Turn 1, but Red Bull's decision to shorten the Mexican driver's second stint to counter Mercedes' pit stop strategy backfired.

This resulted in Russell reclaiming his position on Lap 38, leaving Perez to conclude the race in 8th place. Despite the tactical misstep, Perez did not criticize the team’s decisions. Instead, he pointed to the difficulties the Red Bull car had on the medium tires, asserting, as quoted by Motorsport Week:

“Yeah, the medium was quite tricky. We compromised a little bit the strategy to try and keep George behind, who was quite a lot faster than us.

“Yeah, unfortunately not enough and we struggled with balance today.”

The root of Red Bull's struggles, as highlighted by Perez, appears to have emerged from recent upgrades to the RB20. Both drivers have experienced significant balance issues, especially with the car’s rear stability. Perez elaborated on these struggles, stating:

“I think it’s mainly balance,” Perez pinpointed. “We need to be able to stop the car and be able to carry the speed.

“The problem is that we are not able to throw the car in because the rear is nowhere. So it’s something we have to work on."

Despite a razor-thin qualifying margin where Perez was just 0.040 seconds behind Verstappen, Perez was quick to shut down claims he might be happy with the closer gap to Verstappen.

“No.

“I wish that the gap was a lot bigger and that Max was winning because at the end that would only help the team and in the Constructors’ [Championship] especially.

“So yeah, we got a lot of work to do to fix this issue and hopefully in the next few races it can be better for us.”

Addressing the ongoing technical challenges, Perez confirmed the team's awareness and commitment to resolving the problems.

“I think the good thing is that we have no questions,” he explained.

“Now we know exactly where the issue is. We can clearly see it on the data. It’s just how to fix it, how to attack it.

“The next few weeks are going to be very important.

“I’m already tomorrow in the factory with the team, with the engineers, because I think next week is going to be a very important one.”