Former World Champion says Red Bull are 'one-legged' in the title battle
F1 News
For the first five races of the 2024 season, Verstappen only lost one of the five in a dominant start to 2024, his only loss coming from a mechanical issue. However, Lando Norris' brilliant win at the Miami Grand Prix turned things around. Norris pushed Verstappen right to the wire in Imola, and Charles Leclerc dominated the Monaco Grand Prix as Red Bull finished way off the pace. And in the last two races, Sergio Perez scored only four points, pulling the Austrian team into the middle of a World Championship battle.
After a mediocre eighth-place finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, results got even worse for the Mexican. Around the iconic streets of Monaco, Perez could not get out of Q1, and a lap 1 crash with the two Haas' highlighted his struggles.
Hill believes Red Bull can't rely on Perez
As a result of those two poor results, Perez has slid down to fifth in the Drivers' Championship. Red Bull only sits 24 points clear of Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship too, and with the Italian team and McLaren closing the gap, the battle for both titles is hotting up. Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, 1996 World Champion Damon Hill believes that Perez is becoming tougher to rely on.
"It's no good being three-tenths away from Verstappen anymore," says the Brit. "There are so many cars that can jump into that three-tenth gap. The gaps have become smaller and smaller, so points-wise, you can see that it is diminishing. Ferrari and McLaren, don't forget that they have two drivers who can attack. I'm not sure you can say that of Checo, so Red Bull are a little bit one-legged at the moment if they want to defend."
And with the gap on the track continuing to close, as well as the gap in the standings, Hill believes it is "game on" in the championship. "Ferrari and McLaren are both showing pace and closing the gap at certain circuits. I think if you give Red Bull the right track, it might be hard to catch them, but Max's run of total dominance seems to be faltering, and there is a long way to go."