Max Verstappen has defended Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez after what he described as “very harsh” criticism of the Mexican driver.
The Dutchman, who claimed his fourth successive world championship in 2024, finished 285 points ahead of Perez in the driver standings.
A torrid run of results for Perez has resulted in speculation about his future, with Red Bull expecting to make a decision this week about whether Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson will replace the 34-year-old for 2025.
Yet Verstappen, who has been teammates with Perez since 2021, had sympathy for the man alongside him in the garage, admitting that the RB20 car was “difficult to drive” at some stages throughout the season.
“I work with him every weekend, week in, week out,” Verstappen said, at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. “I find people have been very harsh on him.
“Of course, some weekends maybe could have been better, but sometimes people have been very harsh on him because he’s not an idiot.
“He’s always been regarded as a great driver and it’s been tough, but it’s been tough for everyone in the team because sometimes it was just very difficult to drive.
“I always worked really well with Checo. He’s a great guy, honestly. It’s very rare that you have a team-mate like him who has always been very good and just a nice guy to us.”
Perez, however, has remained steadfast in his belief that he will be racing in F1 again next year.
“I just know I’ve got a contract to race this year, unless something changes in the coming days, that’s going to be the situation next year,” he said.
“I’ve got a contract which I signed earlier in the year to race for the team for the next two years. So we’ll see what happens and how the conversation goes in the coming days.”
After four podiums in his first five races, Perez failed to finish above sixth place after race six in Miami.
His poor form meant Red Bull did not defend their constructors’ title, with McLaren and Ferrari both finishing ahead of Christian Horner’s team
