Checo Pérez is contending for the title for the first time in his sports career and is standing up to Max Verstappen like no one had done since Daniel Ricciardo. But is the Mexican driver really beating the Dutchman?
Holy trouble! That is what many claim when certain areas insist on the difficulties it is having this year Max Verstappen to tame the Red Bull RB18. And yes, it is true that the Dutchman does not feel as comfortable as usual, but the truth is that his numbers deny any hint of a crisis.
Not surprisingly, Max Verstappen has finished six races out of the eight held so far. He has won five of them and has been third in the other three. On Saturdays he is not being able to with an imperial Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari, but on Sundays he is, indisputably, the driver with the best results and this is endorsed by the general classification of drivers.
team orders
But, What about the comparison with Checo Pérez? The Mexican is being praised by everyone and there are even those who say that without the team orders from Barcelona and Baku he would be closer to or ahead of Max Verstappen.
The reality is that neither of these two Red Bull decisions can be considered unjustified team orders, as both in Spain and Azerbaijan Max Verstappen had a much higher pace that it would have made overtaking quite easy for him, consented or not.
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What could have happened? That we will never know, but it is within all logic that Red Bull wants to avoid events like the one in 2018 in Baku, when Daniel Ricciardo took Max Verstappen ahead after several laps of fighting between the two.
No, it is not realistic to say that Red Bull chose their preferred driver in these two races. Simply, the track and the performance of each made it.
what do the numbers say
It is time to look at the cold numbers, which never tell the whole truth, but help to form a more precise conclusion.
starting with the classificationMax Verstappen is clearly superior to Sergio Pérez again, although this year with a much smaller difference than in 2021. The Mexican driver is much more in tune and, in addition to getting pole position in Jeddah, he has overtaken the reigning world champion in two more occasions: Monaco and Baku.
It is insufficient, in any case, and Max Verstappen achieves a better average position on the grid, as well as advantages to Guadalajara in 0.267 seconds per lap average in classification.
VERSTAPEN AND PEREZ CLASSIFICATION STATISTICS
In race things are even clearer, with Max Verstappen standing on the podium in every race he has finished. In addition, in five of the six he has obtained victory, being surpassed by Checo Pérez only in Monaco.
All this means that, at this time, the difference in points between the two Red Bull drivers is 21 points despite Verstappen leaving twicefor only one of Checo Pérez.
VERSTAPEN AND PEREZ CAREER STATISTICS
In short, it does not seem that those who say that Checo Pérez is in better shape than Max Verstappen this year have too many arguments in their favor. yes it is true that the mexican is in the best moment of his Formula 1 career and, at least for the time being, he remains a candidate for the title.
However, if he wants to be crowned world champion at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last of the season, he will have to raise the bar even higher.
Photos: Red Bull Content Pool