In Monaco, Red Bull suffered a serious blow in the battle for the constructors’ championship. Red Bull only has a lead of 24 points over Ferrari. According to former F1 pilot Christijan Albers, Sergio Perez in particular poses a major problem in Red Bull’s hunt for a new F1 title.
Last year Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominated Formula 1. Even then we saw Sergio Perez in particular have some lesser races, even a series of race weekends, but in the end both world titles were won and Verstappen and Perez finished in places one and two in the championship.
This year, despite the disappointing race weekend in Monaco, Max Verstappen is still comfortably in the lead of the drivers’ championship, but Sergio Perez is only fifth in the World Cup standings. According to Christijan Albers, that is precisely where the danger lies for Red Bull and its battle for the constructors’ world title: Sergio Perez who is performing less well.
Perez failed to have a good race weekend in both Imola and Monaco and we immediately see those disappointing results paid for in cash in the championship standings. With this year’s car, Red Bull has less of a lead over the competition and it is therefore less possible to recover if you make a mistake, something that Sergio Perez in particular regularly does.
“Perez was not there at all,” said Albers in the Telegraaf’s F1 podcast. “I see that becoming a big problem. If you have another season like ’21 or ’20, where you have to fight to be on the first two rows of the grid, then you will not win the constructors’ title with Perez.”
As for the upcoming race in Canada, Chistijan Albers mainly expects opposition from McLaren for Red Bull.
“I don’t believe the Ferrari is so strong now that they will win in Canada. In Canada it’s all about top speed. They missed that in Miami, they’re going to miss it in Canada too. Then you get another battle between the Red Bulls and the McLarens. Those McLarens go over the curbs well. And in Canada you have four serious chicanes, which are high. Then as Red Bull you really have a problem.”