Sergio Perez has exposed why Max Verstappen would struggle outside Red Bull, Juan Pablo Montoya says

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Sergio Perez gave an explosive interview about his time as Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull as he prepares to return to Formula 1 with Cadillac.

After losing his seat at the end of 2024, Perez warned Christian Horner that his replacements would experience the exact same problems.

Perez says he was fighting for the 2022 F1 title before the ‘upgrades came’ and Red Bull started developing the car to suit Verstappen’s style. He was within 15 points of his teammate after winning the seventh race of the year in Monaco, but ultimately finished almost 150 adrift.

“At Red Bull, everything was a problem,” Perez told the Cracks podcast. “If I was too fast, it was a problem, because, of course, it created a very tense atmosphere at Red Bull.

“If I was faster than Max, it was a problem. If I was slower than Max, it was a problem.”

Max Verstappen can do ‘whatever he wants’ at Red Bull

F1 legend Juan Pablo Montoya was struck by Perez’s ‘awful’ revelation. It left him concerned about how Verstappen would fare at another team.

Verstappen has been strongly linked with Mercedes in the event that Red Bull struggle under the new regulations. He even considered making the move last year.

Aston Martin are also targeting Verstappen as a successor to Fernando Alonso, who is likely to retire in the next couple of years.

But Montoya fears the four-time world champion may struggle to adjust to a team where he can no longer do ‘whatever he wants’.

Would Max Verstappen’s level drop if he left Red Bull?

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He told AS Colombia: “What he said is awful – if you manage to go faster than Max, it’s a problem, and if you go slower than Max, it’s a problem. You lose whether you flip heads or tails.

“You’re going faster than Max, they’re going to change everything so Max can go faster. If you’re slower, then they’re going to blame you for seeing it wrong.

“That’s what I see as difficult for Max going to another team. The reality of not being number one and not having the status he has at Red Bull, where he can do whatever he wants, is complicated.”

Sergio Perez says George Russell incident shows Max Verstappen’s only weakness

George Russell has said Verstappen would face a ‘lose-lose situation’ at Mercedes. Widely regarded as the best driver on the grid right now, he would be expected to see off the Englishman – anything else would be a failure.

Russell believes a ‘confrontation’ would be inevitable if he lined up alongside the Dutchman. They spectacularly fell out at the end of the 2024 season and clashed at the Spanish GP last summer, too.

Verstappen received a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Russell. He expressed his regret over the incident, which later proved to be costly in the championship fight.

Perez says Verstappen’s ‘only downside’ is that he finds it ‘very difficult’ to deal with adversity. In his eyes, the Russell moment exemplified this weakness.