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Monaghan compares Verstappen and Perez: 'Checo might be upset'
- Cas van de Kleut
The difference between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez has proved quite large in recent years. Whereas the Dutchman has already become a three-time world champion and now leads the championship with more than 84 points ahead of Lando Norris, Perez has often struggled to finish behind his teammate. Red Bull Racing chief engineer Paul Monaghan talks about the difference between the two teammates.
At the moment, it seems Perez is not sure of his seat. There is reportedly a clause in the contract whereby the Mexican cannot be more than 100 points behind Verstappen before the summer break. Currently, the gap is already 137 points and given the form of both Red Bull drivers, it seems that the gap is not going to be reduced enough in the two remaining races.
The difference between Verstappen and Perez
Since 2021, Verstappen and Perez have been teammates. During that time, Monaghan did find out who is faster, telling the Beyond the Grid podcast: "I wouldn't want to be rude to Checo, and he may well bite my head off if he was sat here. But I'd say, in general, I'd say Max is a little bit quicker than Checo. I don't think there's anything. For me, that's not a controversial statement. Checo may well be most upset with me."
Monaghan continued: "Let's say a circuit has 20 corners. The difference per corner is minute. Maybe he [Verstappen] pulls half a tenth in one corner. It adds up through a lap. Going back to what I was saying earlier, he gets to the limit and stays that little bit closer to it, and doesn't massively overstep it in qualifying when you overdrive the thing. If that's the difference, then the average comes out as a number at the end. If that's the objective measurement, so be it. I think there's a little bit more to it, perhaps, but he's [Perez] pretty good, isn't he?"