Photo credit: Oracle Red Bull Racing
Speaking in Miami ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas encouraged Sergio Perez to ‘work on all areas’ inside Red Bull if he hopes to take an F1 Championship fight to his illustrious teammate and current back to back Champion – Max Verstappen.
Valtteri Bottas was Lewis Hamilton’s teammate for 5 years with the pair winning five consecutive constructors’ championships from 2017 to 2021. However, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team was very much a Lewis Hamilton driven team. Try as he might, Bottas never claimed the F1 Drivers’ Championship. Now, having seen Sergio Perez gain ground on Red Bull Racing’s talismanic driver the Finnish racer has advice for Perez if he hopes to really take the fight to his teammate.
“I can kind of relate to him that he’s trying to find something new every year and trying to beat his team-mate. He’s had a pretty decent season so far, and time will show, but for sure, it’s not going to be easy,” said Bottas.
Photo credit: Alfa Romeo F1 Team
Sergio Perez certainly is having ‘a pretty decent season so far’ and his victories last weekend in Azerbaijan (winning Saturday’s Sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix) now have him just six points away from the top of the F1 Drivers’ Championship.
The Mexican racer has proven himself to be an excellent street racer and with the next race on the calendar being on Miami’s temporary ‘street’ circuit – expectation is no doubt high for his good form to continue.
However, to fully take the fight on in internal team battle, according to Valtteri Bottas, Red Bull Racing’s popular driver will need to demonstrate consistency like never before.
“You need to get everybody on board, to get the team to believe that you can win,” stated Bottas.
“I’m sure he’s working on all the areas, and it is about momentum in the end. When you have a good run of good results, then the whole team is on board, and that boosts everything.”
“It’s still early in the year, so he still has a great chance of beating Max, and I would imagine at some point, they
For many, Red Bull Racing is Max Verstappen’s team first and foremost and so the question was put to Bottas as to whether he felt Red Bull Racing would actually throw their weight behind a Sergio Perez title charge: “I feel like, yes, until a certain point of the season. It’s just about how different teams work and what they decide, when they decide, points difference, whatever.
But yes, they can support both drivers the same and I definitely felt like I had that (in battle with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes). I had the opportunity every year. But then at some point, there was a decision, obviously as to who’s going to take it,” claimed Bottas.
Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix win came the way of Sergio Perez as a result of fortunate timing of a Safety Car. Max Verstappen was very much in the driving seat for victory in Baku until that stage. Therefore, one can imagine that last year’s victor in Miami – Verstappen – will be eager to take back momentum and claim the top step in Florida once again. Whether his teammate Sergio Perez allows him to do so remains to be seen.
Photo credit: Oracle Red Bull Racing
