Max Verstappen appears to be on course to win his fourth straight Formula 1 world championship, despite winning just two of the last five Grand Prix.
He didn’t have the fastest car during the British Grand Prix, but still secured an important 2nd-place finish for Red Bull after perfecting his strategy when others around him didn’t.
However, Max Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez is in a world of trouble at the moment, once again failing to score a point as a result of a critical mistake in qualifying.
The Mexican lost control of his car on a warm-up lap during tricky conditions and was supposed to start 19th before Red Bull made changes to his car that forced him to start from the pit lane.
The race didn’t go much better for Perez and he ended up crossing the line ahead of only one driver – Zhou Guanyu – although Red Bull have to take some responsibility for botching his strategy.
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Speaking on W Radio Colombia, former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya suggested that he had seen a difference between Verstappen and Perez’s cars that are making life more difficult for the Mexican.
Perez needs all the help he can get right now with his future at the team hanging in the balance.
He reportedly has two clauses in his contract that would allow Red Bull to drop him whenever they like and at this stage, he looks like he’s underperforming those conditions.
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Juan Pablo Montoya spots key difference between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull cars
Talking about the Red Bull team, Montoya said: “One thing about the Austrian Grand Prix when I was watching, is the difference in the balance of Checo’s [Perez] car and Max’s [Verstappen] car, that surprised me.
“If you see Checo’s car and you see Max’s car in the corners, Max’s car completes the corners and in Checo’s car it is impossible to go faster.
“Checo’s car was a little bit like Fernando’s [Alonso] car, he made the corners and at the same time at the end of the corners, the car didn’t turn.

“He had to slow down because he was running out of track and Max’s car completed the corner, so it’s an interesting topic because it could be an issue that the setup was compromised in some way.
“Or one doesn’t know internally what is there because Red Bull has not really criticised Checo at all.
“Yes, he lacked speed in the race and everything but if you look at the balance of the car in qualifying and the balance of Max’s car, they are two very different cars.”
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Sergio Perez has found driving Red Bull car difficult to drive for years
Red Bull have always insisted that their car isn’t built specifically for Max Verstappen, but when he’s winning race after race, it’s hard to imagine that his feedback isn’t taken very seriously.
Throughout Verstappen’s time in Formula 1, he’s come up against driver after driver who has failed to match him when driving the same car.
Alex Albon has explained the lengths he’s gone to previously to try and race against the Dutchman, while Pierre Gasly didn’t last long during his time with Red Bull.
Perez appears to find it difficult to adapt to his Red Bull whenever the team start to introduce updates each season.
That problem has been even more evident this year when the grid has converged and Perez may now only have a few races left before Red Bull are forced to make yet another mid-season driver change.
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