Perez: Respect! Verstappen has driven on another level

Verstappen will be crowned the 2023 F1 World Champion, at Lusail, if he has a lead of 146 points or more over Perez on Sunday night. Simply put, he needs to score three points in the next six races to seal the deal, no matter where second-placed Checo finishes!

And those three points are likely to be scored during Saturday's Sprint Race in Qatar.

As the season progressed, Perez, who briefly challenged Max with a couple of wins early in the season, was unable to match the #1 car as Verstappen raised the benchmark in just about every qualifying session and then delivered an inevitable masterclass on race days. He is so dominant that he has now won 13 of the 16 GPs this year.

Thus the chap he shares a garage with Mexican veteran Perez, with the same awesome RB19 at his disposal, is best placed to call out how good 26-year-old Verstappen is right now: “Max has done a tremendous job. No credit should be taken away from the season that he has done.

"I think he has driven on another level compared to anyone else, and I think that’s something that I have a lot of respect for," declared Perez who is the last man standing in Max's romp to the 2023 F1 title. But not for long.

As for his own shortcomings, after a stellar start to his campaign, Perez reflected: "From my side, I feel like Barcelona, it started to be... it was quite a turning point. I was always chasing the weekend.

"Sometimes you have weekends where things are coming a lot more naturally and you are two or three steps ahead, and I felt like since Barcelona I was starting to struggle and have some deficits with the car," explained 33-year-old.

With Verstappen securing the P1 spot in the 2023 F1 Drivers' standings, all Perez has left to do is make sure he remains where he is - in P2. This would make history for RBR, in that they have never had their drivers finish one-two in the final F1 championship standings. Not even in the heady days of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

With six rounds remaining in this year's 22-race contest, including three Sprint Race weekends, Lewis Hamilton is only 33 points adrift. Thus there is still much for Perez to do to make sure he claims second place in the standings behind Verstappen.

"It's important because that's the best I can get now,” Perez said of the runner-up fight ahead. “I think all the drivers in here want to get the best possible season. And more than that, to me it's very important to finish the season on a high, because that only helps the start of next year.

"So, to me, it's very important to get on top of it and make sure that we are able to deliver in the next six races," added Perez, who will know how doubly important these final GPs will be, not only for Red Bull but also his own future with the team. Under threat since his form dipped so severely.