Max Verstappen has given his thoughts on Sergio Perez's difficult F1 season with Red Bull, saying he was not “not an idiot”.
Perez's future with Red Bull hangs in the balance after shareholders held a meeting on Monday to discuss it.
According to the first rumors, the fact of separating from the Mexican has been recorded, it remains to be seen whether this will be done gently (ambassador role, sponsorship in other categories) or with “simple” financial compensation (estimated between 15 and 20 million dollars) and severance of all ties.
Red Bull is seriously considering replacing him with Liam Lawson but Yuki Tsunoda was still in the running according to Dr Marko's comments after the Abu Dhabi test yesterday.
“The finalization of the duos is underway after the meeting which took place on Monday, we hope to make an announcement this week,” he confided after the tests, without further details.
Verstappen insisted on supporting Perez, particularly for his image, which has been greatly damaged.
“I don't know what the team is going to do, it's up to them. I've always worked really well with Checo. He's a great guy, honestly.”
“It’s very rare to have a teammate like him, who’s always been really good and just a nice guy.”
“I work with him every weekend, week after week. I think people have been very hard on him.”
“Of course, some weekends could have been better, actually. But sometimes people have been really hard on him because he's not an idiot.”
“He was always considered a great driver. It was tough, but it was tough for everyone in the team, because sometimes it was very difficult to drive that car.”
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