McNish: 'Keeping up with Verstappen is hard enough, but this is very hard'

Perez gave pole position to Charles Leclerc during Q3 in Monaco. The Ferrari driver was at the top of the timesheet when Checo parked his Red Bull in the wall, ending the session with a red flag. Verstappen was still on a fast lap, but it was doubtful that anyone could have come close to Leclerc's time. On Sunday, Perez rallied and regained the lead on track from Leclerc after the Ferrari team threw away the lead in pit lane with a chaotic strategy.

McNish puts Perez on par with Verstappen

McNish is heavily impressed with the Mexican and puts Perez's performance in perspective with his predecessors; other drivers who drove alongside Verstappen. At the F1 Nation podcast, the former F1 driver says, "The thing was that he was faster than Verstappen this weekend; consistently faster. To be faster than Verstappen at any given time is already difficult, but to be faster than Verstappen at this track [Monaco] is especially difficult."

McNish believes not only that Perez can now compete for the 2022 world title, but also that Perez is starting to put himself more and more on an equal footing within the team with Red Bull Racing's absolute leader: "He's getting into a position where he's no longer the number two at the team. He is becoming more and more 'first driver-ish'. That's very good for the team, because they have two strong men to fight against Ferrari."