Naomi Schiff cannot see Max Verstappen being troubled too much by anyone this season, apart from perhaps his Red Bull team-mate.
Verstappen is already a double Formula 1 champion and is gunning for his third-straight title in 2023. Charles Leclerc was his closest rival last year, but finished 146 adrift of the dominant Dutchman as Ferrari struggled with engine reliability issues and made plenty of strategy mistakes.
It remains to be seen which team will provide the sternest competition to Red Bull this year. Ferrari will expect to be in the fight again, Mercedes may hope to challenge later in the season and maybe Aston Martin might be able to compete, having started strongly.
But Schiff is not certain that anyone will be able to come close, given how strong Red Bull look again. With that in mind, she feels Sergio Perez might be best placed to provide a challenge to Verstappen this year.
"I think I'll say Checo because at the moment, I think Red Bull is still in a little bit of a league of their own," the Sky Sports presenter told GiveMeSport. "Max's biggest competition is his own teammate because I think no one's really that close to that Red Bull performance just yet."
That prediction was validated by the result of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Verstappen took pole position but the Mexican made sure he would be starting the race alongside him on the front row, edging out the two Ferrari drivers.
It remains to be seen how the two Red Bull racers will get along this year after some tension in 2022. It came to a head in Brazil, when Verstappen refused a team order to let his team-mate pass on the final lap, and Perez responded with an angry message over the radio.
Ahead of this new season, the Mexican made it clear he will not be helping Verstappen unless he feels the Dutchman is giving as much as he receives. "It's always important to work as a team and obviously if I see that I don't receive support when I need it, I won't give it either," Perez said.
"I think we are very clear about the important thing, it will be a very intense season, surely with six cars fighting for the championship, so it will be very important to work as a team in many races."
