"He said, 'I'm not going to be beaten by him ever again'" - Karun Chandhok shares what Max Verstappen told his father after losing to Perez in Baku

F1 pundit Karun Chandhok recently claimed that Max Verstappen reacted with rage at losing the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP to his teammate Sergio Perez. Chandhok said that the Dutchman's father, Jos Verstappen, revealed to him how angry his son was after Baku even though he was on course to clinch his third world title.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Karun Chandhok opened up on the chat he had with Jos Verstappen in Qatar after Max secured his third consecutive World Championship. During their conversation, Jos revealed that when Max Verstappen lost to Sergio Perez in Baku, he returned home and claimed that he would never be beaten by his Red Bull teammate ever again.

Chandhok narrated:

"I saw Max's dad, Jos Verstappen in Qatar on the evening after Max had cleared the championship. And we were chatting about the season. Then he said to me, 'Max was furious after Baku'. And when he [Max] came home, he said to his dad, 'I am not going to get beaten by him ever again this season.'"

Chandhok added that Max Verstappen stayed true to his word and was not beaten by Checo after the Azerbaijan GP that was held in April, 2023. The Red Bull star continued to win every single race till the end of the season, except at the Singapore GP, where Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz bagged a rare victory.

"He was absolutely livid and said he will no be beaten again. And lo and behold, he was right, and it was pretty devastating!" said Chandhok.

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Former Mercedes driver feels Sergio Perez lacks trust in himself while going up against Max Verstappen

Former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas is well aware of how difficult it is to race alongside a legendary driver on the same team. He raced with Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes for several years, when the Brit was clinching world titles left, right, and center.

Looking at Sergio Perez's situation alongside Max Verstappen, he recently said the Mexican needs to have self-confidence and convince himself that he can beat his teammate.

“You have to have this attitude [that you can beat anyone]. You can’t go into a race weekend and tell yourself you can’t beat him. You would have already lost. In this sense, it is a sport in which you always have to have good self-confidence and convince yourself," Bottas was quoted as saying by PlanetF1.

"If you don’t have that trust, you’ll end up in a difficult downward spiral. You can see that on the stopwatch and the consistency. I would say, looking at what Checo is going through, he’s definitely lacking some trust. And you can see that in the results,” he added.

Max Verstappen ended the 2023 F1 season with 575 points, while Sergio Perez only scored 285 points.