Verstappen defends Perez again: 'Is not all down to him, also the car'

Verstappen defends Perez again

Asked how difficult it is to fight with McLaren and Mercedes without Perez by his side, Verstappen replied, "I wouldn't word it like that because at the end of the day we are teammates and we always try to give our feedback to the car and that's also what Checo has been doing, so he's been always fully contributing to that."

The Dutchman defended his teammate after his disastrous weekend at Silverstone and is also jumping to the defence for him now. "But of course we cannot deny that the last few weeks were a bit unlucky especially in qualifying at Silverstone. Then you have to start at the back and especially in a race like that, it's very difficult then to progress," Verstappen explained.

Verstappen: 'Can't say it's all down to Perez'

He therefore disagrees with the criticism of Perez, who Verstappen says is just as much to do with a harder-driving car than before. " I also think he wants to do better, but I know that he's working very hard. It's not that he just takes it for granted or whatever, right? Hopefully here when the car maybe suits his driving a bit more, everything feels a bit more connected, it can work a bit better for him," the championship leader continued.

"Our car was a bit tricky here and there, on Friday we were always looking for balance and then as a driver it is also very difficult to be consistent. You always have to deal with different types of balance problems, so it's also not quite fair to say that everything is his fault," Verstappen defended his teammate again. "Even for myself the last few weekends have been very challenging to get the best out of the car, and the team knows that."

Verstappen does not want to put more pressure on Perez

Asked about incidents where Perez does get himself wrong, Verstappen says: "It doesn't help, but he knows that. I don't need to say that to him. It's natural, but I feel like he's giving it everything. And that's the only thing you can do. And also to tense up or stress about it, that's not going to help the situation as well. We just work as a team and everyone is always very committed. Everyone wants to help each other to be better."

Consequently, Verstappen does not talk to Perez about his situation. The pair do discuss what is needed to stop Red Bull falling behind. "We just talk about what we can control and that's, of course, our influence. And that's the car. We want to have a faster car," said the three-time world champion.