Helmut Marko agrees with Verstappen: Pérez is not a threat to Red Bull dominance in F1 2023

Helmut Marko never hides his opinion on behalf of Red Bull Racing. Nor before the weekend of the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Spain. According to the Austrian Sergio Pérez, Max Verstappen does not see it as a threat at all, something Marko agrees with.

In 2022, Verstappen also had no competition at all from the rest of the field. Pérez participated well up to and including the Monaco Grand Prix, just like Ferrari. After that, however, Verstappen turned out to be moving towards his second world championship with ease. In 2023, Verstappen has already collected six podium places and four victories after six races, so that he is doing even better than last year after six races. The gap of almost forty points to Pérez and more than fifty points to the rest is significant: there is no real competition for the Dutchman. Still, Pérez doesn’t seem to get much support from his own team either.

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Verstappen in Perez

So far in 2023 it has turned out that Verstappen really only has something to fear from the driver who drives the same car: Pérez. Yet Verstappen himself does not seem to think that way. In conversation with OE24 let Marko clearly know what Verstappen thinks about Pérez. Marko has seen confirmation in recent races of what he and Verstappen already thought: that the Mexican is not a serious challenger to the Dutchman. “Over there [aan die gedachte] has now come to an end. In reality, Max never saw a serious threat in Checo.”

Dominance Red Bull

Many people, including some big names from Ferrari and Mercedes, feel that the dominance of Verstappen and Red Bull is destroying the sport. Marko can do very little with this. “Please don’t blame us for our car [de rest van de teams] cannot develop further.” Earlier, Aston Martin also indicated that they believe that Red Bull has simply done better than the other teams, and that these other teams must come up with solutions to close the gap.