Dutch pundits slam Perez, say Gasly deserves the seat

Speaking in a podcast, race driver turned pundit Tom Coronel and RacingNews365 founder Ruud Dimmers discussed the merits of Perez, the 32-year-old signed last year to partner Verstappen after the Dutchman made a mockery of teammates the Red Bull driver talent pool produced.

Experience and a steady head were sought to add firepower to Red Bull's attack on Mercedes in 2021. And while for many, including the team who extended his contract early, Perez ticked all the right boxes in his first season, there remains a nagging feeling he might have done more.

Verstappen won the 2021 F1 Drivers' Title but Mercedes won the F1 Constructors' Championship, Perez scoring 36 points less than fellow wingman Valtteri Bottas who combined with Lewis Hamilton to ensure Toto Wolff's team won the eighth Title in a row.

And therein lies the only 'pebble in the shoe' of Perez's first campaign in Blue.

When presented with the statement: "Perez does not deserve that seat at Red Bull next to Verstappen at all."

"Agree, completely agree", Coronel responded. "I think Pierre Gasly deserved it. Firstly because he comes from the Red Bull pool and secondly because he has shown that he has matured, he is now stronger in the head. The self-confidence is back. I would just put him next to Max.

"I expected a lot more from Perez last year, but really a lot more. When did he really help? Once at the end of the season and once somewhere in the middle of the season. Other than that, he's was never around at all," ventured Coronel.

Dimmers concurred with his colleague: "We expected more from Perez, especially because he has about ten seasons of experience. But is Perez so bad or is Max Verstappen just extraterrestrially good?

"Gasly couldn't compete with Max either, who tried a completely different setup with his Red Bull, then it went from bad to worse. Perez did the same thing. Gasly couldn't manage it, Perez couldn't manage it. They were both wrong about the setup."

In fairness, last year Perez did win a race and score another four third places. However, the stats compared to Verstappen are bleak as he scored less than half the points the 2021 World Champion did. Perez finished fourth, which in reality was last of the four drivers in the front-running cars. Harsh but true.

Nevertheless, Perez found more speed and consistency towards the end of the season, which Coronel reasoned: "He was stronger then. Why? Because he went back to Max's setup again. The fastest setup is simply decisive but then those egos start playing up..."

Red Bull's problem, namely a suitable number two, is that whoever they put up against Verstappen have lacked over half a second in natural raw pace which the Dutchman is able to tap into while others struggle. They are simply not at the very pinnacle of genius where Max hangs out.

"Except Lewis Hamilton!" decalred Coronel. "We should really just put Lewis and Max in the same car. Then you get the Prost-Senna effect."

As for the likes of George Russell and Charles Leclerc beating Verstappen: "Forget it!" insisted Coronel.