10 May 2023 , 11:14
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Sergio Perez has been told to "just drive faster" – or accept that he will always play second fiddle to Max Verstappen.
The two Red Bull drivers took two victories each from the first four races of the season, leaving just six points to separate them in the standings. And Perez had the chance to leapfrog his team-mate and take top spot with victory at the Miami Grand Prix.
The circumstances looked favourable – the Mexican was being cheered on by the majority of the Floridian crowd and started on pole, while Verstappen was ninth on the grid. But the Dutchman executed his race strategy flawlessly and Perez was powerless to resist the overtake late on.
The gap between them now stands at 14 points – still a very slender margin, especially with 18 races still to go. But it remains to be seen how big of a psychological blow Verstappen landed on his team-mate by beating him from so far back on the grid.
Dutch racer Tom Coronel felt confident enough to declare that it has already put an end to Perez's title ambitions. "Just drive faster!" was the Viaplay pundit's response when asked by Motorsport.com what the Mexican needs to do to beat his rival.
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Coronel added: "What does he think? When you're a team-mate of Max, you just always become second fiddle. That's just how it is. What does he think? When you're a team-mate of Max, you just always become second fiddle. That's just how it is.
Overcoming Verstappen will be a monumental challenge for Perez (HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)"You think you can match it. Yes, occasionally if he makes a mistake, but in Q2 Max already had a faster lap than the one Sergio set in Q3. We shouldn't forget that either. That hope everyone is talking about, forget it. There's no hope at all.
"If Max drops out, it's better for the fight. It's more exciting, but it's exciting enough. That guy comes from ninth or fifteenth or wherever we see him come from. Last year Hungary, Spa... you name it, he does it anyway. In the end, it doesn't matter where you put him. As long as Max is on the entry list, you just fight for second place with the rest
Perez's only hope of beating Verstappen to championship glory this year, Coronel went on to assert, is if luck plays a sizeable role. He added: "There is only one way – when things go wrong technically with Max very often. Otherwise, you can just forget about it."