Sergio Perez’s father, Antonio Perez Garibay, has revealed in a recent interview that he still believes that his son is the second best ‘tiger‘ in F1. However, Garibay did admit that Max Verstappen does seem to have the upper hand over Sergio.
As quoted by Crash.net, Garibay said, “They are two tigers in the same cage, is what I have told them. And if you ask me, who would you like to see Checo team up with, I would say the best in the world. So however it is today, Checo is the second best in the world in Formula One.”
Although Garibay believes that Sergio is not at the same level of Verstappen, he yet believes that his son is not that far away from matching the three-time champion’s performances. While Verstappen definitely was the far superior driver between the two in 2023, Sergio does seem to have closed down the gap in 2024.
However, there is one key reason why Sergio seems to be performing significantly better in 2024. Last season, the 34-year-old seemingly took too much pressure on his shoulders as he revealed his intention of wanting to fight Verstappen for the championship.
However, in 2024, Perez seems to have accepted his role as the second driver in Red Bull. Moreover, he has also stopped experimenting with his car and has benefitted from significantly improved results this year.
Sergio Perez has changed his approach for 2024 with a different goal in mind
After failing to match Max Verstappen in 2023, Sergio Perez has changed his tactics in 2024. According to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, the Mexican driver has now accepted his role as the second driver of the team and no longer enters a race weekend with the intention of beating Verstappen.
As quoted by Si.com, Marko said, “What I’m also happy about is that Sergio Perez is showing stronger performances in this first part of the season than he did a year ago. Checo no longer goes into the race with the claim that he absolutely wants to beat Max.”
Marko also revealed that now Perez is choosing similar set-ups that Verstappen selects for race weekends. As a result of choosing this approach, Perez is benefitting significantly as his sole concern now is to improve his own performances rather than feeling pressurized in wanting to beat Verstappen.
