Helmut Marko makes bold Sergio Perez comparison to Max Verstappen after Dutch Grand Prix

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Sergio Perez might have answered his critics with his finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, as question marks still hang over his future at Red Bull.

The pressure has been on Sergio Perez to perform following a string of poor weekends, with two seventh-place finishes before the summer break marking a slight uptake in form.

The Mexican finished in sixth place ahead of both Mercedes after starting fifth on the grid, having decided to extend his pit stop window early in the race when he fell behind Charles Leclerc.

It was clear that Red Bull was possibly the third fastest car on race day at Zandvoort, after Max Verstappen also appeared to struggle to keep up with Lando Norris in the battle for the lead.

Considering they opted to keep Perez instead of swapping him out for another driver, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko issued his verdict on the Mexican’s performance when speaking on Sky Sports Germany.

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Helmut Marko verdict on Sergio Perez performance

After speculation that Perez would be replaced after the summer break, with the most likely candidate being Daniel Ricciardo, neither driver in the Red Bull sister team scored points at Zandvoort.

Yuki Tsunoda finished six places from where he originally qualified in P17, while Ricciardo missed out on points having finished in P12.

Although Perez was beaten by both Ferrari drivers, Marko felt it was a solid effort given their struggles on race day.

“It was a great race and in the second stint he was faster than Max. He came back stronger and the decision was right,” said Marko.

Red Bull fighting problem that ‘wasn’t there’ at the beginning of season

The sixth place was Perez’s best result since he finished fourth at the Miami GP, but he still has not finished on the podium since the Chinese GP in April.

Red Bull is now having to search for answers over why its car has suffered from problems since they brought upgrades between the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix.

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Verstappen believes Red Bull is now fighting a new issue with their car which ‘wasn’t there’ at the start of the season, which has made the RB20 more difficult to drive.

The poor handling was something Perez and Verstappen noted during the last couple of races and is perhaps the one thing that could be helping the Mexican hang on to his seat as Red Bull attempts to turn things around.