“I’m absolutely shocked…”: Sergio Perez ‘surprised’ Red Bull with his behavior, feels Peter Windsor

Sergio Perez's behavior after winning the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP may have caught Red Bull by surprise, according to F1 journalist Peter Windsor.

Sergio Perez signed on the dotted line for Red Bull at the start of the 2021 season and since then has been playing second fiddle behind Max Verstappen. While the Mexican was more than willing to aid Verstappen's cause in his debut season with the team, some friction was noticed between the pair in 2022 on more than one occasion.

At the Saudi Arabian GP this year, Perez claimed pole position and led for the majority of the race but was worried he was being held back on purpose to allow Max Verstappen to come into contention for the race win after the latter started in P15. Despite the Dutchman's best efforts, Perez held on for the win and claimed that he, too, was involved in the title challenge and wanted to be held in the same regard as his more accomplished teammate.

Windsor feels this action on Sergio Perez's part may have struck the wrong nerve within the Red Bull camp. In a recent interview, the analyst said:

"I’m absolutely shocked [by] Checo’s reaction to what happened in Saudi Arabia, where he won the grand prix. I’m absolutely shocked that after that race he started saying, ‘I’m in the running for the World Championship, I need to get the same treatment as Max’. I’m still even more shocked that he’s thrashing out at the team now because of what happened in qualifying, and indeed in FP3, in Melbourne – dry track, no problem at all with the car actually."

Windsor believes Red Bull were under the impression that they were getting a driver who was going to follow orders and not someone who would be seeking a stature equal to their established team leader in Max Verstappen. He added:

"I think Red Bull are surprised by that because they imagined he would be just this guy who is very, very quick, very polished in a lot of areas, not as quick as Max overall obviously, who’d be quite happy to be in the second-best car in Formula 1 at this stage of his career and would just keep his mouth shut and get on with it. But he’s not doing that oddly."

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"Life can be better if I was number one" - Peter Windsor disappointed by Sergio Perez's calls for equal status to Max Verstappen

Sergio Perez wanting to be on an even keel as Max Verstappen within the Red Bull structure has disappointed F1 analyst Peter Windsor.

In the aforementioned interview, Windsor likened Sergio Perez's behavior to former Ferrari drivers like Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello, and Felipe Massa, all of whom grew tired of being in the shadow of their more illustrious teammates during their time in F1. He said:

“It seems he’s got a case of the Rubens Barrichellos or the Felipe Massas – or the Eddie Irvines for that matter – when they were at Ferrari: ‘Life can be better if I was number one.’ Of course, that’s a load of old rubbish and that’s really disappointing to see. But hopefully he’ll get through that and I suspect he will.”

Sergio Perez's current deal with Red Bull is set to run out at the end of the 2024 season while Max Verstappen is tied down to the team until the end of 2028.

If Christian Horner has to choose between the pair, logic will dictate that he will go with the reigning double world champion and if Perez opts not to be a team player, he may be compelled to consider a new driver line-up.