Dr Helmut Marko, a Red Bull advisor, has acknowledged that he believes Fernando Alonso is the only driver who can compete with Max Verstappen if he races for Red Bull.
Marko’s comments come after Sergio Perez had yet another disastrous Grand Prix last weekend in Qatar, with Lewis Hamilton now only 30 points behind in the Drivers’ Championship.
Perez was extremely fortunate that Hamilton crashed on the first lap, as the Mexican finished P10.
Concerningly, the 33-year-old has only collected one point in the last three races, and Red Bull is counting on Perez to regain some form in order to secure P2 in the standings.
Red Bull has never claimed a 1-2 in the Drivers’ Championship, which they should be able to do with easily given the superiority of their car.
However, Perez is certainly putting himself under a lot of strain right now because he can’t get the most out of the RB19.
As things stand, Red Bull is unlikely to retain Perez for 2025, though Marko has stated that the organization will “respect” his contract for next season.
“I repeat myself, but Perez has a contract, and we want to respect it,” Marko told Sport1.
“We’re doing everything we can to get him back on track.”
One of the key reasons Perez’s position is secure for 2024 is that Marko has confessed that they “don’t have any alternatives” who they believe would do better than Checo at the moment.
If they did have a driver ready to replace Perez, the 80-year-old has stated that the Mexican “might have a problem.”
“We simply don’t have any other options.” “He might have a problem otherwise,” Marko said.
Given how powerful Verstappen is, Perez appears to be suffering with being his teammate.
Verstappen is winning races with ease, whereas Perez is having to fight extremely hard just to qualify for Q3.
Drivers who are unable to cope with the pressure of being alongside Verstappen has occurred multiple times, with Marko claiming that only Alonso is capable of dealing with the three-time World Champion.
“At the moment I only see one person who could come close to keeping up with Max – Fernando Alonso,” Marko stated.
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