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Max Verstappen has opined that the concerns with the RB20 were more important than the future of his teammate Sergio Perez. Speaking to the on-site media after the Belgium GP, the triple world champion felt the Mexican driver's weekend was positive until the race.
Perez started in the front row in second place but finished eighth in the race, at a weekend that was extremely critical for his future. It was speculated that the Mexican driver had until summer break to perform well and help them defend their constructors' championship.
However, the six-time grand prix winner has not been able to deliver higher than a seventh-place finish in the last seven races, which has aided McLaren to close in on Red Bull. On the other hand, on a weekend when Max Verstappen had started in 11th place with the penalties, the expectation from his teammate was to defend the McLarens.
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Apart from Perez’s downward spiral in performance, Max Verstappen has been struggling with car performance issues after the summer break. The Red Bull upgrades have under-delivered and not brought significant performance gains. A part of the Dutchman’s frustrations over the radio and in the press after the Hungarian race was the underwhelming car performance.
In Belgium, the reigning champion managed to plow through the grid to cross the finish line fifth. He was later promoted to fourth as a result of George Russell being disqualified. However, unlike Red Bull's dominant years, the triple champion could not surge from the back of the grid to clinch a podium or win a race.
Max Verstappen felt that more than his teammate’s future, their car performance remained a concern. He analyzed Perez’s weekend as positive, where the tire life and performance hampered a competitive result. The 26-year-old felt his teammate’s race exemplifies their tire struggles.
Asked what he thought about the talks surrounding Perez’s future after the Belgian race, Max Verstappen said:
“I think our main concern is the car. That's what we should focus on mainly. Because I think if you look at Checo’s weekend, it was very positive I would say. Of course in the race, it just shows that we have difficulties with the tyres, I think still, the tyre life. So I think that should be our main priority.”
Max Verstappen reckons that the Belgian GP was a damage-limitation race
Starting with a ten-place grid drip for taking a new engine outside the permitted limit, Max Verstappen was demoted from pole position to 11th place on the grid. He felt the car balance was decent but the traffic did not help his tire life.
The Dutch driver believes that it is a positive race despite the limitations because he got to extend his lead by a small margin over Lando Norris. He felt most of the race was damage limitation from the compromised grid position. The McLaren driver was within DRS range but was unable to get past the Red Bull.
Describing his race and the limitations, Max Verstappen said:
“The balance of the car wasn't too bad always in the first few laps but of course I also ran a lot in traffic which probably also didn't help. But yeah we were just not you know faster than the cars around us and then you just get stuck in that the DRS train. And I think as a team we maximized the performance today and naturally you know if you start P1 with the pace that we had I think you're fighting for the win regardless. But starting P11 I knew that it was always going to be a damage limitation race. Of course looking at the championship with still a positive day I extended my lead where it could have also easily been you know calculating losses. So from that side of course it's a positive day.”
In the drivers championship, Max Verstappen currently leads the title with 277 points and has a 78-point lead over his McLaren rival. Despite finishing ahead of Norris, the Red Bull champion could extend his lead by only two points. On the other hand, Red Bull Racing had a 58-point lead over McLaren which has now been reduced to 42 points.
The Milton Keynes team has a total of 408 points and the Woking-based team has a total of 366 points. With 10 more races left on the calendar, it will be a close-fought title by the final race in Abu Dhabi.
