Max Verstappen is the reigning Formula 1 world champion, but his Red Bull racing team has released the attack on him. Teammate Sergio Perez gets permission to drive for the title. At the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan he beckons the lead in the drivers’ standings.
Sergio Perez leaned towards Max Verstappen and politely interrupted the Formula 1 world champion. “We’ll still love each other, won’t we?” said the Mexican as Verstappen began discussing potential tensions with his team-mate. “Of course,” assured Verstappen, “why should that change?” You work well together and ultimately respect each other. The house peace at Red Bull, the duo assured after Perez’s prestigious victory at the classic in Monaco, is not endangered. However, the question before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday (1 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) is: will it stay that way?
Perez, last year’s winner on the street circuit in Baku, has not only emancipated himself from his seemingly traditional role as number two at Red Bull since the victory in Monte Carlo. Only 15 points separate him from championship leader Verstappen, who has never played in Azerbaijan stood on the podium and doesn’t have fond memories of the Caspian Sea circuit. Perez’ gap to second-placed Ferrari star Charles Leclerc has shrunk to six points in the World Championship standings.
In Baku, Perez could even take the lead in the World Cup – and put Verstappen under even more pressure. “Checo is in the form of his career. He’s doing a great job,” said team boss Christian Horner. The triumph in Monaco was “not an outlier”. The 32-year-old scores consistently, has a lot of self-confidence and drives excellently: “The gap between him and Max is significantly smaller than last year.”
The season is still long, Baku is only the eighth of 22 World Championship rounds, Horner does not want to commit to a single title candidate (yet) – no team orders, no fixed number one. “Checo is in this World Cup just like Max is,” said Horner, who relies on team play.
After all, the main rival does not come from within their own ranks. Ferrari, especially Leclerc, must be beaten for Red Bull with combined forces. “We have to make sure to work together as a collective so we can get both drivers ahead of them,” said Horner.
How quickly the mood can change, how quickly vanities can endanger this collective, how fragile the house peace at Red Bull might be, could at least be guessed at in Monaco. Jos Verstappen, father of the defending champion, indirectly assumed that Perez was privileged. His son was not helped with the Monaco strategy, which, according to the former Formula 1 driver, was disappointing: “I would have liked things to be different for the world championship leader.”
