Sergio Perez denies claims of his Red Bull F1 car being different than teammate Max Verstappen

Red Bull F1 driver Sergio Perez has denied rumors of the team sabotaging his car while he admits both he and Max Verstappen are given equal opportunities.

Ever since F1's visit to Miami, Perez and Verstappen's seasons have taken a different trajectory. The two Red Bull drivers were closely matched in the first four rounds, exchanging wins until the Miami GP.

From then onwards the Mexican driver's results spiraled downwards, particularly his pace on Saturday had completely disappeared. Speculations arose if there was a discrepancy in the machinery between the two drivers.

Perez ridiculed such rumors in an interview with Mundo Deportivo during the recently concluded Hungarian GP.

"The cars are the same. It's in the team's interest to have both cars up there every race. It's crazy what is being said on the outside. There's a lot of speculation," he said.

"No, no, that's impossible! [if the team had touched his car] The team is totally focused on giving me the opportunity to perform at my best," Perez added.

Max Verstappen ahead of Sergio Perez in the Belgian GP

Red Bull has treated both drivers equally as there have been no team orders this season. Both of them have also received the upgrades at the same time leaving the doubt on the driver's ability.

The performance deficit is glaringly obvious between the two drivers as it can be traced back to Sergio Perez's struggles in the qualifying sessions. His qualifying woes continued over a stretch of six races.

It had a significant impact on his championship fight as Max Verstappen went from strength to strength winning every race, while he struggled to make it to the podium. The Mexican driver recovered from his mid-season slump, returning to the podium in Hungary and the following weekend at Spa.

The current gap between the two drivers is a whopping 125 points, making the Dutchman a clear favorite for the championship.

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Charles Leclerc baffled by the gap between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc recently admitted that he didn't expect such a wide margin between Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. While the Monegasque hailed Verstappen's abilities, he sympathized with the Mexican driver for putting up with the "difficult" job.

“I think Max is a great driver, but at the same time there are many who cannot explain such a wide margin between him and Checo,” Leclerc admitted in an interview with the Italian edition of Motorsport.com. “Personally I think it is impossible to read the situation well from the outside, only inside the team do they know exactly everything.”

“At times the margin between Max and Checo was greater than I would have expected, but on the other hand Verstappen is an incredible driver and it is probably very difficult to be alongside him," Leclerc added.

Charles Leclerc exploited this gap between the two drivers to finish runner-up in the 2022 drivers' standings. However, he is far behind the Red Bull duo this season.