Verstappen defends Perez: 'Can't say everything was his fault'

Verstappen defends Perez: 'That would have helped him'

At the Las Vegas GP, Verstappen was crowned champion for the fourth time in his career, however, Red Bull missed out on the constructors' title. "That, of course, was a final failure for us," the Dutchman said after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to Viaplay.

Asked about Perez's role in finishing behind both McLaren and Ferrari in those standings, Verstappen explained: "Of course it has been difficult for Checo and it has not always been his fault either. We also had a very difficult car at that time. Of course, I don't want to piss him off at all either, because he is my teammate and I get on very well with him. But I can also say very clearly that not everything has been his fault about how things went wrong," the defending champions answered.

'In the beginning Perez was performing fine'

Verstappen argues that the biggest issue was the fact that the RB20 just did not work the way it was supposed to. "Of course I know Checo's driving style, and the car we had at one point was very difficult to drive, also for me. That just doesn't help and we should have just worked on that faster. That would have helped him a lot too," the Dutchman continued to stand up for his now ex-teammate.

As a result, he sees that the criticism Perez received over the course of the year was not justified. "At the beginning of the season, for example, he was just second or third, so that was just fine. Only at one point it became very difficult. And of course your confidence also takes a dent, some people are a bit more sensitive to that than others. As a team, we didn't quite top that either," concluded the four-time world champion.

This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sárközi

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