Verstappen left to his own devices to 'save' Red Bull Racing

In the last eight Grands Prix, Perez scored 28 points. By comparison, Max Verstappen scored 141 points in the same period. The fact that McLaren has moved considerably closer to Red Bull Racing in the championship in recent months is partly due to McLaren's improved performance but mainly to Perez's underperformance.

Although the RB20 is less dominant, Verstappen is showing what potential there is in it. That Perez is so far from potential means he is now eighth in the world championship, while his teammate leads the same championship by a wide margin.

Red Bull Racing owe their 42 points advantage over McLaren in the world championship entirely to Verstappen. However, the same Verstappen has been signalling internally and externally since Imola that things are no longer like this. He is squeezing the maximum out of the car, but more needs to be done. Both with the car, and in the other cockpit.

Max Verstappen single-handedly scores the points

After the Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen said it aptly: McLaren has two cars. It slipped out of Verstappen's mouth before he knew it, but that did not make it any less true. Verstappen has had the upper hand in the internal duel since Perez's arrival and Red Bull Racing has never made any work of replacing the second driver. Opportunities abounded, but Perez was offered a new deal each time.

The current performance should also not come as a surprise at all given the data of the past few years. Perez always underperformed Verstappen in qualifying. However, it was less noticeable in 2022 and 2023 because the competition was not as close. Only now that McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari have joined, it is noticeable that Perez loses about half a second per lap on average on Verstappen in qualifying and the race. If you compare that to the teammate duels at other teams, it is shocking.

You don't want a situation where two drivers fight with each other and thus miss out on the title (Hamilton and Alonso at McLaren in 2007), but you also don't want a driver duo that is so far apart that you miss out on the constructors' world title. The latter is now in danger of happening. If Perez continues to finish eighth or lower, McLaren will get closer and closer, and it cannot be ruled out either that Mercedes in their current form will quickly approach.

It may have lacked a much better alternative, but not stepping in after such a string of results is also a sign of things to come for Verstappen. He will have to start doing it for Red Bull Racing. For the constructors, but also among the drivers. Verstappen may have a wide margin in the championship standings, but that too is not yet a done deal.

Red Bull pin their hopes on Verstappen

For Verstappen, of course, it would have been nice if his teammate was faster. Someone who can qualify between him and Lando Norris in qualifying. Someone who can strategically provide extra options in the race, so that Verstappen is not alone when duelling with the McLaren and Mercedes drivers. And someone, who on a good day from Red Bull, can also snatch points from Max's rivals.

However, Red Bull hopes Perez will find his form again in the remainder of the season. What that is based on is a big question. Perez performs relatively better at circuits such as Baku, Qatar, Singapore and Las Vegas. Then, instead of six tenths, the gap is about three tenths. However, that is not enough. Because three tenths is also too much, in a field that is so close together, and in a field in which Red Bull in many cases no longer has the best car.

Red Bull is hoping for Perez to get better. A message the team also expressed at the time of his contract extension. It remains bizarre that a driver gets a seat with a top team based on hope, instead of proven performance. Perhaps the alternative is lacking at the moment, but Red Bull has done the same to itself by blindly extending Perez's contract time and again, without looking at the underlying data. Anyone who looked at that data in 2022 and 2023 knew long ago that Red Bull would be in trouble as the field got closer together. Red Bull is hoping for Perez, but the only one they should hope for is Max Verstappen.