Criticism of Pérez: 'Shows some underestimation or little self-knowledge'

Max Verstappen is having a very strong year with Red Bull Racing, but teammate Sergio Pérez is struggling significantly more. The Mexican is fifth in the world championship and has to put up with Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris for the time being.

The Austrian formation hopes that Pérez will quickly get closer to Verstappen, allowing him to apply more strategies. "If Max takes pole position and Sergio is second, it will be very difficult for Hamilton to get into the same position," explains Kees van de Grint at RTL Slipstream. "That's what a second man is for too and he hasn't always delivered on that yet."

In recent years Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon also tried as a teammate of Verstappen, but both men proved not to be good enough. "We've talked about it before: nobody is going to succeed. If you are a teammate of a talent like Verstappen, Schumacher, Senna or Hamilton, then you have to accept that. It shows some underestimation or little self-knowledge if you think you're going to knock them off. That's not going to happen."

Verstappen is currently eight points ahead in the world championship. This weekend sees the last race before the summer break, which takes place in Hungary.