Verstappen restamps his authority
Sergio Perez's hopes of leading the F1 championship after Miami were cut down by Max Verstappen's signature all-conquering pace.
This time last week, Sergio Perez was proudly spruiking his F1 championship credentials, confident that he could challenge his world-champion teammate, Max Verstappen.
“I am definitely in the fight for the title,” he said.
But Perez’s hopes took a cold hard hit in Miami. Throughout the weekend, he was consistently a level below Verstappen.
The reigning F1 champion was faster in every practice session as well as the first two parts of qualifying. Perez did snatch pole position, but only because of Verstappen’s mistake and a timely red flag.
That pole position handed Perez a lifeline for the weekend, but he failed to make good use of it.
During Sunday’s race, Verstappen rolled out his signature all-conquering pace. Clearly, it was too much for Perez to handle. He finished 5.3 seconds adrift of Verstappen, who took his third win of 2023.
So what made the difference?
For much of the race, Verstappen and Perez were both on the hard tyres, though Verstappen’s were 20 laps older.
While degradation was low, Perez should’ve still been able to pressure Verstappen and close down the gap.
In reality, Verstappen relentlessly posted quick lap times and kept the gap steady. It didn’t matter that his tyres were so much older, the 18 to 19-second gap was unchanged 20 laps later when Verstappen had to pit.
That meant when he got fresh rubber, he came back onto the track directly behind Perez, instead of having a lengthy gap to close down.
By that point, there was no doubt that Verstappen would breeze past, win the race, and extend his championship lead to 14 points.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports F1 that Verstappen’s laps on the hard tyre “made the difference”.
“His pace on the worn tyre there was just outstanding,” he said.
Perez said Verstappen was just too quick for him. “I think the performance Max showed today was not reachable for me,” he said.
It’s a hell of a change of attitude from last week in Azerbaijan when Perez said: “If I’m able to [win] in Baku, I’m able to do it anywhere.”
The unfortunate truth is his Azerbaijan performance is an anomaly compared to the rest of his season.
Azerbaijan has always been one of Perez’s strongest tracks, while Verstappen has a blotchy record on street circuits (especially Monaco).
Verstappen also complained throughout the Azerbaijan weekend that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with his setup.
The only other place Perez has won this season is Saudi Arabia - a track which is just like Azerbaijan. Both are temporary street circuits where the walls are always close.
While Perez clearly excels at these types of tracks, success at them alone won’t be enough to win a championship.
Monaco, Singapore and Las Vegas are the only proper street circuits left on the F1 calendar.
That’s three races out of the remaining 18.
Perez will need to win a heck of a lot more races to stop Verstappen from becoming a triple-world champion.
I think it's not only fans who would need to see a more competitive team mate to Verstappen, but I think Max will start to get bored if this carries on.
Great analysis!