"I have to beat Max": Sergio Perez on what he needs to do to win the title

Sergio Perez is aware that he needs to beat Max Verstappen to win his first F1 title this year. The Mexican driver is currently second in the drivers' standings, just one point behind his Red Bull teammate.

Verstappen scored an additional point for the fastest lap last time out in Jeddah after having stormed from P15 to P2. The two-time world champion thus denied Perez the chance to lead an F1 world championship for the first time in his career.

While the former Racing Point driver wasn't pleased with the Dutchman's antics alongside the Red Sea, he claims he has cleared the air with his Austrian team, putting them on good terms for the upcoming 2023 Australian GP.

Sergio Perez claims he knows the size of the task ahead of him in beating Max Verstappen. As per the official F1 website, he said:

“If I want to win the championship, I have to beat Max. When you are in the fight for the championship, you got to take your A game to every single race, and you have to try everything you possibly can. But at the same time, I think it will be very important that we will respect whatever has been told by the team.”

Sergio Perez backed to fight Max Verstappen in title fight

According to 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill, Sergio Perez is getting ready to challenge Max Verstappen for the 2023 title. Perez won the race from pole position in Jeddah, finishing ahead of his teammate Verstappen.

Although Max Verstappen faced some setbacks at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, including a driveshaft issue that caused him to start 15th on Sunday, the two-time world champion made an impressive comeback to finish in second place behind Perez.

At present, no other team can match the performance of the Anglo-Austrian outfit. Hill believes Sergio Perez knows the scale of the task he has in front of him and will not bow down to Verstappen's talent without a fight.

He said, as quoted by Autosport:

"Checo knows what he's up against but he's not going to go down without a fight. It could be quite interesting. I think the problem that you have is that Max is a bit of a force of nature, and it's how much pressure he can put on the team to make sure his championship aspirations are not interfered with by Checo,"

It will be interesting to see which of the two Red Bull drivers comes out on top at the end of the year.