Jacques Villeneuve jokes F1 driver’s about to be ‘scary’ after what he heard in Baku

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Jacques Villeneuve joked one Formula 1 driver is about to become ‘scary’ good after what he heard from them after qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday.

Highs and lows littered the field as they lapped the city streets from Charles Leclerc securing his fourth-straight pole in Baku to Lando Norris finishing the day in P17 after a torrid end to qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP. Williams also had a session with highs and lows themselves.

While Williams left a fan in Alex Albon’s airbox in Q3, Franco Colapinto will become the first Argentinean driver to start a Formula 1 Grand Prix in the top 10 since 1982. The Grove team qualified in P9 and P10, with Albon unable to improve his lap due to the fan issue late in Q3.

Jacques Villeneuve tips Sergio Perez to be ‘scary’ for the Formula 1 field again in Baku

But while ex-Red Bull racer Albon was out-qualified by his Williams teammate, a current Red Bull pilot in Sergio Perez had the better of his teammate Max Verstappen for the first time in 34 races. Not since the 2023 Miami Grand Prix had the Mexican out-qualified the Dutchman.

Verstappen was enjoying a 16-0 whitewash in the Red Bull garage in qualifying this year with Perez continually struggling for speed. But his 100% run is now over, ensuring no full-time F1 driver will endure a 100% defeat. Logan Sargeant edged Albon once by default in Zandvoort.

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Perez qualified in P4 for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Verstappen only able to secure P6 with a 0.210-second deficit to his Red Bull teammate and 0.658s to pole. So, Villeneuve is tipping Perez to remain a threat given the team understand why he often struggled for pace.

“I’ve been telling [Red Bull] these issues since probably 10 races ago or maybe even halfway through last year,” Perez told Sky Sports F1 (14/09, 14:38). “It’s a development course we took with the car. With the driving styles, some drivers are more sensitive than the other.

“Max wasn’t feeling it that much but lately it became so extreme that he ended up having similar issues. The team understands now where those issues are, which is great news for the team. It’s just, the main thing is how quickly we can fix them.”

To which, Villeneuve responded: “So, that means you’ll become scary for the rest of the grid now to the end of the season?”

Red Bull must wait until the United States Grand Prix for Sergio Perez to prove himself

While Red Bull may understand the issue with their RB20 that Perez could not get on top of previously, it is still too early to suggest the Mexican might be ‘scary’ for the Formula 1 field after qualifying fourth for the Azerbaijan GP. He must now back up the result on a real track.

Perez is the most successful Formula 1 driver in the history of the Azerbaijan GP as the only two-time winner to date. He capitalised on Verstappen hitting trouble in 2021 and enjoying an undercut on his teammate in 2023 to win the race. Now, a third win may be on the cards.

But his two wins, plus victories at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, 2022 Singapore Grand Prix and 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, came on street tracks. Perez has only ever won once on a proper circuit with his race win with Racing Point in the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain.

If Perez is truly going to be ‘scary’ for the rest of the Formula 1 grid again, Red Bull must see him deliver not in the Azerbaijan GP or the Singapore GP next time out but in five of the last six races. The next real circuit on the calendar is the United States Grand Prix on October 20.