Sergio Pérez arrived at Red Bull this season to be team-mate of Max Verstappen, a very demanding seat in which Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon had not lived up to expectations in the previous two years.
The Mexican had to adapt to a totally different car than the one he was used to at Racing Point . Pérez suffered at the beginning of the campaign, but in the sixth race, in Azerbaijan, he achieved victory, as well as a podium finish in the following appointment in France.
After eight Grands Prix uncorked the champagne, due to his own mistakes and bad luck, but in the final part of the year he chained three consecutive third places, and in the last race in Abu Dhabi he was a key factor in keeping Verstappen in the fight with Lewis Hamilton.
In an extensive exclusive interview with Motorsport.com’s sister publication Formel1.de , Marko analyzed Pérez’s season at Red Bull, highlighting the Guadalajara driver’s strengths and weaknesses.
“‘Checo’ had its ups and downs. One of the weak moments was in qualifying, up to a certain point. When you start eighth, ninth or eleventh, it takes too long to be able to support Max. By this I mean that the possibility of the safety car is no longer is, and stuff like that.”
“But in Abu Dhabi he did an ideal job, and he also helped a lot so that Max could get this victory. I remember a similar situation in Turkey, where he also ran into Hamilton and where it also took him a long time to pass Pérez,” commented the Austrian.
Before Pérez was announced as a Red Bull driver for 2021, Nico Hulkenberg was one of the options that the energy drink group considered.
Asked if he was convinced that “Checo” had been the best option , Marko replied: “It’s hard to say because we don’t have Hulkenberg in the car. But Perez has shown that he has incredible experience when everything is right for him, and he’s driven a lot of races at the pace of Max. Because of the bad starting positions, it came into play, but overall it was the right call.”
