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Verstappen stands up for Perez: 'Not that he always does badly'
- Ludo van Denderen
Not for the first time, Sergio Perez got eliminated in Q1 already. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen could finish in P5 and more importantly, ahead of his title rival Lando Norris in Las Vegas. Following qualifying, the Dutchman stood up for his teammate.
GPblog asked Verstappen why could the difference between him and Perez be so big. The Dutchman explained, "He did give me a slipstream in Q1, so that was two, three tenths? We are just struggling to get those tyres up to temperature. Then maybe when you don't quite have the confidence with the car, it becomes even more difficult. It does indicate of course that things are running a bit difficult for us."
Verstappen calls the situation 'very tricky'
Indeed, with that last comment, Verstappen 'blames' the team for Perez's lacklustre performance. Then the reigning world champion said: "If I manage to qualify fifth and Checo doesn't come out of Q1, that doesn't always mean Checo is doing badly or something. That's just very tricky."
In any case, the Mexican driver will once again have to recover during the Grand Prix, and his chances of helping Verstappen in the drivers' championship seem to be very slim. If the Dutch driver manages to lose at most two points to Norris tomorrow, he will be crowned champion in the 'Sin City'.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sárközi
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