Max Verstappen gives his verdict on Sergio Perez's recent form: "We cannot deny that the last few weeks have been a bit difficult"

Max Verstappen has given his verdict on Sergio Perez's recent form and admits that the last few race weekends have not been the best. The Mexican has been a teammate for Max since 2021. Perez played a critical role in the title decider as well, holding off Lewis Hamilton during the race.

After that, Sergio Perez assumed the role of deputy for Max Verstappen in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, he finished the season 3rd in the championship and in 2023, he finished the season 2nd in the championship. The problem however was the fact that the gap between Perez and Verstappen is huge in terms of performance.

It was due to this gap that the driver was unable to get the job done as soon as the rivals started catching up with Red Bull. This was evident in 2024, as soon as McLaren brought its upgrade in Miami.

Since then, Sergio Perez has struggled to keep up with Max Verstappen, and with four teams (McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari) very close to each other in terms of performance. Heading to the F1 Hungarian GP, Perez is perilously close to being relegated to P8 in the championship, and at the same time, there are reports of Red Bull assessing a replacement post-summer break.

The question of Sergio Perez's performance was put to Max Verstappen on the eve of the F1 Hungarian GP where he admitted that there was no doubt that the form had dipped recently. He told media including Sportskeeda:

"At the end of the day we are teammates, and we always try to give our feedback to the car, and that’s also what Checo has been doing. So he’s been always fully contributing to that."

He added:

"But of course we cannot deny that the last few weeks have been a bit difficult. I would say also some were a bit unlucky. In qualifying for example in Silverstone, that off then cost you your qualifying. You start in the back, and especially in a race like that, it’s very difficult to progress."

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Max Verstappen hopes Hungary turns out better for Sergio Perez

Max Verstappen, however, hoped that Hungary could be the race where Sergio Perez had a better grasp of the car and hence could use it to achieve a strong result. The Mexican does appear to be in the spotlight at this stage, and things could turn sour for the Mexican very quickly if his performances don't improve.

Talking about his teammate, Max Verstappen felt that if Sergio did have a better feeling with the car this weekend, a good result could be on its way. He said:

“I think also he wants to do better, but I know that he’s working very hard. It’s not that he takes it for granted or whatever. Hopefully here, when the car suits his driving a bit more, everything feels connected, it can work a bit better for him.”

It will be interesting to see what happens next with Perez, as the Mexican's future has started to become a talking point amongst different circles in F1.