Dr. Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s consultant, claimed only Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso can get closer to Max Verstappen that Sergio Perez, in the same car.

Sergio Perez has been under pressure recently at Red Bull to up his game and try as much as possible to to teammate Max Verstappen, and while the Mexican has started the 2023 Formula 1 season in great form, winning in Saudi Arabia Azerbaijan, his form has plummeted since the Monaco, raising questions regarding his future with the team.

Since Daniel Ricciardo was announced as Nyck de Vries’ replacement at AlphaTauri, the Australian was considered as a threat to Perez’s position within Red Bull, the latter notably improving with a podium finish in Hungary and Belgium.

However, Perez remains way off Verstappen’s pace as he was over 22s behind him at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, when the Red Bull pair finished first and second.

However, Helmut Marko praised Perez’s result, he told the F1 Nation podcast: “Being second behind Max is like a win.

“There won’t be any other driver who could stay with him on one level. Maybe [Fernando] Alonso and [Lewis] Hamilton would be nearer, but nobody could beat him at the moment,” he claimed.

“I know how good Max is [and] that has to be considered,” the Austrian added. “He’s nursing the tyres and he’s still going fast. He can read the race and he’s so far ahead [with] what he’s doing he’s already past. It’s unbelievable capacity in his head.”

Verstappen and his engineer offering entertainment

Red Bull have won every race this season, as their winning streak goes back to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, meaning the now hold the the record of consecutive wins in F1, 13 to be precise, beating McLaren’s record of 11 that stood firm since 1988.

Marko hailed his team’s achievement, he said: “It’s so unbelievable, the performance of the whole team, pit stops, strategy, the drivers.

“And we do some entertainment [with] the conversations between Max and [his engineer over the radio],” he joked, referring to Verstappen’s and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase’s “Sparky” radio exchange from Spa.

As for the F1 summer break, Marko said: “I would like to keep it going, but for the people who are really hard working, like the mechanics, they need to recover.”

Red Bull have won everything this year, Grands Prix and Sprints, and lead the Constructors’ Championship by 256 points from Mercedes, and will be back in action at Verstappen’s home race in Zandvoort following the break between August 25 and 27.

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