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There’s a good chance that Sergio Perez will end up being the longest-serving teammate of Max Verstappen during his Formula 1 career.
Sergio Perez spent four years alongside Max Verstappen before being released by Red Bull at the end of the 2024 season.
Many fans thought that might have been the end of Perez’s F1 career, but he will be back on the grid at the Australian Grand Prix in March as part of Cadillac’s inaugural driver line-up.
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The likes of Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda lasted less than 12 months alongside the Dutchman, but Perez was the perfect Red Bull number two to the four-time world champion until it was decided that he wasn’t.
Christian Horner told Perez of his plans for Lawson and Tsunoda before being dropped, but the Mexican learned more about Verstappen than any of his previous teammates and what made him tick.
Perez has given Verstappen a glowing reference, but his suggestion of the 28-year-old’s only ‘downside’ appears to be spot on.
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Sergio Perez nails Max Verstappen’s only ‘downside’ as a Formula 1 driver
On the Cracks Podcast, Perez was asked if he learned anything, good or bad, from Verstappen during their time together.
He responded: “Yes, a lot. Max is a mentally strong driver. He has a lot of confidence in himself.
“He has impressive talent, he is focused on the sport, on racing, on being the best driver, and he is a great asset to the team.
“He pushes very hard; he’s a great leader in the team, but I think the downside is also his character. When things go wrong for him, he finds it very difficult to deal with them.
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“Well, like what happened in Barcelona, he freezes up, he has that side to him, but I think if he didn’t have it, he wouldn’t be Max either.
“Something is going on with Max. Max is an excellent person, but something happens to him when he is in the car; he transforms.
“He transforms; he becomes another person. And I think that in this case, he was carrying something inside him that he never let out because we talked about all the problems that happened that year, we talked about them, and we thought that it was all behind us, right?
“The whole team thought so. So we were all surprised that he brought it up at that moment.”
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Max Verstappen’s character could be properly tested during the 2026 Formula 1 season
Verstappen’s frustration at last season’s Spanish Grand Prix was clear to see, and ultimately the penalty he picked up for hitting George Russell would have been the difference between winning the 2025 championship and missing out to Lando Norris.
The Dutchman insisted that he didn’t see the incident like that, but the misinformation he was given by the team, suspecting he would receive a penalty for an illegal move, provoked him to act rashly under pressure.
His demeanour was far more relaxed as the season went on, and that lack of pressure could partially explain how he went on to win six of the final nine races.
Verstappen will no longer have Helmut Marko as one of his allies at Red Bull after his departure, and his future is going to be one of the hottest topics in the paddock in 2026.
All eyes are on how Red Bull are going to perform during the upcoming rule changes.
Verstappen will have to keep his cool if Laurent Mekies’ team are off the pace, and then potentially make a career-defining decision on who to move forward with in 2027 and beyond.
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