Max Verstappen shares Red Bull’s ‘biggest problem’ after the Mexico City Grand Prix and it’s not Sergio Perez

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Red Bull Racing had a race weekend to forget at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen started from a promising position on the front row of the grid alongside Carlos Sainz and went on to take the lead at the first corner.

Yuki Tsunoda’s accident with Alex Albon brought out the safety car and on the restart, Sainz didn’t have much trouble passing the lead Red Bull once he had DRS.

Then, Verstappen’s closest championship rival Lando Norris tried to overtake him and in the space for four corners, the Dutchman picked up 20 seconds worth of penalties for two mistakes.

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Martin Brundle labelled Verstappen ‘ridiculous’ for his driving and in the end, he could only recover to sixth, allowing Norris to close the gap in the Drivers’ Championship.

Sergio Perez’s weekend made Verstappen’s race look phenomenal in contrast after crossing the line at the Mexico City Grand Prix dead last of the 17 runners who took the chequered flag.

The 34-year-old was eliminated in Q1 and penalised at the start of the race.

Perez also had a tense battle with Liam Lawson who is currently auditioning for his seat at Red Bull for next year.

Verstappen was interviewed on Sky Sports F1 about Red Bull’s issues and in particular, how Perez struggled.

The triple-world champion admitted that Red Bull face much bigger problems than Perez’s form if they’re going to try and win both championships.

Max Verstappen defends Sergio Perez after torrid Mexican Grand Prix

Sky journalist Rachel Brookes asked Verstappen: “I’ve just been talking to Checo, he obviously had a horrible day.

“How much do you want him to stay and how much do you need his help and does someone else coming in help you, or do you just want to maintain the team you’ve got and fight together?”

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Verstappen responded: “At the moment it’s not our biggest problem.

“We need to improve our whole car, because if the car is better then naturally Checo improves, and I’m not thinking about these kind of scenarios.

“I’m only thinking about being faster with the car.”

Verstappen was then asked if he had belief in the team to make the car faster and he said: “I mean, it’s already promising. It’s just here we were really off and I just hope that Brazil again we will be more competitive.”

Sergio Perez fighting for his Formula 1 future at Red Bull

The last thing Perez needed going into Sunday’s race was to have to start from the back of the grid at a track where it can be very difficult to overtake.

Oscar Piastri only started one position ahead of Perez and could only recover to eighth, failing to get past Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.

Once Perez picked up a penalty and then got caught in a battle with Lawson, his race was hampered even further.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname

Lawson and Perez came to blows during the race, and in the end, neither driver had the last laugh.

Red Bull are carefully considering Lawson as a replacement for Perez, and despite the Mexican’s insistence in the post-race press conference that he will definitely be on the grid next time F1 races in Mexico, it’s hard to agree that he should be so assured in his position.