'Red Bull wants to be able to play a game with Mercedes, not be the plaything'
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- GPblog.com
By bringing Sergio Perez to Red Bull Racing, the team is breaking with their own tradition of primarily signing younger drivers from their own program. With his experience and already proven talent, Red Bull hopes to put a strong second driver alongside Max Verstappen.
Robert Doornbos is confident that this was a good move. "With Perez there, a world will open up for them. I'm not saying he'll be blazing fast right away, but with ten years of experience at different teams, he has developed the knack of peaking on Sundays when he needs to," Doornbos said in conversation with Motorsport.com.
Red Bull wants to be able to play a game with Mercedes
"That's also what Red Bull was looking for: so they can start playing a game with Mercedes, instead of being the plaything of Mercedes. So that's where you're going to notice the difference," Doornbos says.
He doesn't expect Perez to have much trouble with the handling of the Red Bull car, where his predecessors of recent years did. "In that case, he can fall back on his expertise and I think he will still be able to bend the car to his will very quickly. So I do expect a lot from him."
Is Perez prepared to be second driver?
But is Perez prepared to help Verstappen win the title? "He will never admit it like that and I think that's very good," Doornbos says. "An athlete has to be selfish to make it to the top. If Perez and Verstappen both have two or three strong weekends at the beginning of the season, Red Bull will be the last team that will say there is a clear first and second driver.
"If a talent peaks, Red Bull will only support that. Let them fight it out among themselves on the track. Without hitting each other of course," Doornbos adds.