'Difference in balance between Perez and Verstappen’s car surprised me'
Juan Pablo Montoya thinks there is a substantial difference between Max Verstappen's RB20 and Sergio Perez's. The former Formula 1 driver made that statement after the British Grand Prix, in which the Mexican once again failed to perform.
Perez went horribly wrong during qualifying at Silverstone, finishing no further than a 19th time. The Mexican started from the pit lane a day later after making changes to his car under Parc Fermé. It did not help him into the points. Perez finished 17th - partly because of a too-early pit stop to intermediates.
Montoya finds it remarkable that Perez started the season with four podium finishes in the first five races, but that since the Grand Prix at Imola (midway through) May, things have just not been going smoothly. The 48-year-old Colombian is looking for an explanation.
"The difference in balance between Checo's car and Max's surprised me," Montoya interjected to W Radio Colombia. "When you see Checo's car and Max's car on the onboard cameras, how Max's car gets through the corners and Checo's car doesn't [at all].... It's impossible to go faster [for Perez]."
Perez not happy
"Internally, people are shouting that the car is the same. There is a need to understand what is going on because suddenly he [Perez] is on the other side of the line. He may shout 'No, no, no, everything is fine'. But, 'Everything is fine' actually means that something is lacking with the car," Montoya said.
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
I think the biggest problem is the Checo head. It was the same last year, and he knows it, and unfortunately he doesn't know how to switch off and not think about the past, but only about the current race. He is not mentally strong enough to withstand the pressure, as it is when you are in a top team, where you are worth as much as your last result.
Redbull is one driver team, nobody will ask Checo " hey, what we should focus on in car development?" They will ask this question from Max and Max only. So with every new development the car could get further and further away from Checo's driving style. It may not be like this, but a possibility.
Something surely is strange with Perez since Imola. Before that he was at least very close to Max on race pace. But now he’s completely off. Did the upgrades went away from him? But that doesn’t make any sense
Not only Perez. Alonso has also faded. Going from dominating over Stroll to barely keeping up with him. Probably 2 different cases. Perez mentally burned out and Alonso gone into Kimi mode "just having fun".
I thought it was 100% Checo's problem but after seeing how badly Isack Hadjar performed in FP1 I am starting to believe there is probably a problem with his car....
Hadjar? You mean the driver that has spent 5 years in karting and 5 years in single seaters and has never won a single championship? Even Checo's results in his junior career is better! Doing pretty well currently in F2 doesn't change a driver to suddenly become a rockstar after years of mediocre results. On the other hand, a driver who has won every single championship that he has participated in, doesn't suddenly become 'bad' either because of less than stella results in one year.
Don't think that anyone thinks Hadjar is a star or something. For this he would have needed to show this kind of pace on his first year in F2 (like Aron), not second year. Hadjar is good, but slow learner. He might have future in F1, but not sure about his mental side. I've never heard so much whining before on team radio. I think with Antonelli you forget the importance of experience. You can't expect Antonelli to come and dominate in F2 with much less experience over older and much more experienced drivers. Even his team-mate has 1 year of experience in F2, that's what got him qualy win in Saudi. Even Piastri would not have achieved what he did in F2 , without the F3 experience and also dominating Prema car. Antonelli's results don't show him being bad, they show him being really good (for his age and experience), but some others are still better.
May be he should go and watch Albon's interview on Max's driving style before speaking non sense..
I watched onboards Max vs Pérez side by side , it seems weird that Pérez has fallen of so badly. I mean you watch it, and what do you think? https://youtu.be/kJHrN2ie-_4?si=jvHrYDBcOxNdJakY
I think the cars are the same, but the setups etc are not. Red Bull literally has nothing to gain by giving Perez lesser material... They need the points for the constructors championship...bad!
JD, I don't doubt that, I a am just saying the drop off of Pérez, from say Japan to now is incredible.
I believe that is all mentally...he is broken and knows the clauses he has in his contract!
Yes it’s really strange. Back in Japan Perez was very close to Max, both qualifying and race pace
Lacking or set up differences ? Understeer vs pointy front end ? One driver better than the other ? Or maybe Marko is sabotaging Checo's car late at night because he is South American (although as a Mexican he is North American) and Juan is showing solidarity ? I am going to stick with Checo needs to be replaced like Zak did with him at McLaren because he is just not good enough.
Zac isn't Team Principal now either, he is the CEO. Andrea Stella is the Team Principal of McLaren
True but he just recently made comments saying he likes Sergio but had to let him go due to his performance, making it sound like Zak had input in that decision. Having said that I agree that you are correct.
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