Sergio Perez has been backed to cause "friction" within the Red Bull garage by giving Max Verstappen "a hard time" for the rest of the season.
Not so long ago, Perez was regarded as a bona-fide title contender. He had just won the Monaco Grand Prix to move within 15 points of the defending champion, before news that Red Bull had extended his contract in the wake of his strong results.
Things have been tricky for the 32-year-old since then. He has failed to finished two of the last four races – a gearbox problem in Canada followed by contact with George Russell in Austria – and the gap to Verstappen has widened to 57 points.
As we enter the second half of the season, it now looks like a much more difficult task for the Mexican to provide genuine competition to his team-mate. But he has been backed to do so by former racer Emerson Fittipaldi, who believes there is a fairly even balance between drivers at Red Bull.
"I'm sure both Max Verstappen and Checo Perez will be strong contenders," he told VegasInsider. "In my opinion, Perez, he is growing, he's getting more self-confidence, he's getting stronger and stronger on every Grand Prix. If his mindset this weekend is fixed to win, he has the talent, he has the speed to win.
"I think he's going to give a hard time to Max from now on. I have this feeling because he's extremely self-confident now. He knows he has the talent, the speed and he's not anymore a shadow to Max. He's reality. He's there. He's a contender, he's strong.
"I think for the Red Bull team it is good to have two drivers at this level. In my opinion, Helmut Marko never expected Sergio to come to this high level of driving and performance. I think it could be very interesting, from now to the end of the year, the competition inside the Red Bull team."
He went on to suggest, though, that Verstappen might not respond well to having serious competition from a team-mate. Fittipaldi believes that a title title race between the Dutchman and Perez could result in some fireworks and an internal battle which could turn sour.
"This is my belief and this is my opinion that Checo Perez will be running strong," he added. "Very strong and I think this is going to create some friction because of his performance. Not that Max is slowing down. Max is an extremely talented driver. He's the world champion. He's leading the championship. But Checo is there. He's there and he's strong."
