Does Perez know where he is losing out to Verstappen? 'No clear pattern'
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Sergio Perez is struggling to consistently match Max Verstappen this season. Red Bull Racing has built a great car for this season with the RB19. The Mexican isn't getting the same results as Verstappen and explains where he is losing out compared to the Dutchman.
Perez has been weaker since Monaco
Perez managed to win two out of the first five races. Three wins went to teammate Verstappen. After those five races, a championship battle seemed to be on the horizon, but since Monaco, it has gone downhill for the Mexican. Perez crashed in Q1 and lost many points to Verstappen. However, Monaco was not the turning point, according to the Red Bull Racing driver.
"Barcelona was the turning point. There was an upgrade on the car, but it is too easy to blame that. They put upgrades on the car to make it faster and it was faster. I just found it harder to beast the car. Then you have to adapt and I didn't do that as quickly as I should have done," Perez told Auto, Motor und Sport.
So where is Verstappen faster?
Red Bull teammate Verstappen has won the past 10 races, while Perez did not even make the podium in all of them. According to the Mexican, having the two-time world champion as a teammate is tough. "That is difficult, but if you want to drive for Red Bull, you have to live with it. You have to be very strong mentally to survive it."
Verstappen is often a lot faster than his teammate, especially in qualifying, but Perez can't explain where this big difference comes from. "It is mainly the fast corners, but there is no clear pattern," Perez explained. This weekend sees the Singapore Grand Prix, a race in which the Mexican excelled and took victory last year.