Sergio Perez agrees with Alex Albon about the biggest problem for Max Verstappen’s Red Bull teammates

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Sergio Perez’s time at Red Bull was marred by a difficult last couple of years, in which the Mexican struggled to compete with Max Verstappen.

In their final year together, Perez scored only 35% of the points that Verstappen managed to rack up to take his fourth world championship.

Although his season started well with podiums and a decent amount of points scored, things quickly went bad for the Mexican. Verstappen regularly finished ahead in the races, with Perez narrowly avoiding a whitewash in qualifying, having been beaten 23-1.

Red Bull felt Perez’s lack of points cost them the Constructors’ Championship, which meant his position became untenable. He was duly replaced by Liam Lawson for 2025, but Perez appeared to be vindicated when Red Bull swapped him for Yuki Tsunoda after two races.

Now Tsunoda is finding the car tough to drive, and it could all be a legacy of what Perez claimed made the car ‘uncontrollable’ in the 2024 season when speaking on the Desde el Paddock podcast.

Sergio Perez explains why 2024 Red Bull was ‘uncontrollable’

One of the main traits of the RB21 is how difficult it is to get into an operating window, something only Verstappen can achieve after winning two races and starting from pole three times.

Alex Albon highlighted the ‘eye-watering’ characteristics Verstappen likes in a car, which makes it so difficult for teammates to beat him. Perez goes into further detail in what made it so difficult for the Mexican during those final years at the Milton Keynes squad.

“Red Bull, since I arrived, had a very direct way of how to evolve its cars. I remember that in 2022 the rules changed a lot and in the end, when we started evolving the car, it didn’t matter if you drove the 2022, 2021, or the 2020, it was the same car and the same driving style.

“In 2023 we started with a very good car for both drivers, but when they started with the improvements in Barcelona and we were fighting for the title with Max, race by race, suddenly it started to get very, very complicated.

“I was able to adapt to this car in my early days, but when a change in the wind, weather, or rain came up, it was uncontrollable because I had to keep the Red Bull very present.

“Normally, we drive unconsciously and everything happens automatically, you think very little, but with that Red Bull I had to think about every move, and when they started going in this direction, Max told them, and it became more difficult.”

Sergio Perez reveals worst car of his F1 career

Perez has been with a mix of teams throughout his 13-year career in F1, having started off at Sauber, had a brief stint at McLaren, then driven for Force India/Racing Point and then Red Bull.

The stint at McLaren was arguably one of his worst, having developed a rivalry with Jenson Button that ultimately led to him being replaced after numerous collisions.

Perez felt the Racing Point which earned him his first F1 victory in Bahrain was the best F1 car of his career, but when asked about his worst, the Mexican replied: “This latest Red Bull RB20.”

It goes to show that even a car capable of winning titles has to be accessible to drivers for them to gain peak performance on offer.