Former F1 chief Ross Brawn admits that he would like to see someone “more competitive” than Sergio Perez racing alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
Perez’s 2023 campaign kicked off on a strong note, with the Mexican and Verstappen trading wins in the first four races of the year.
Perez's confidence at that point was such that he dared dream of a banner year and world championship spoils.
But after the fifth round in Miami, the 33-year-old's ambitions and confidence took a turn for the worse and entered a downward spiral from which he has yet to fully recover.
The back half of Perez’s season has been a mixed bag at best, with a few good races, like last weekend in Brazil, alternating with several dismal performances such as in Qatar.
Speculation over Perez’s future has been incessant, but Red Bull’s top brass has repeatedly insisted that the Mexican will remain with the Milton Keynes-based outfit in 2024, the final year of his contract with the team.
Nevertheless, Brawn believes there would be more excitement out on the track on Sundays with a faster driver than Perez in the second Red Bull.
“What I want to see quite frankly is someone more competitive in the other car because unfortunately Sergio’s not putting up much competition for Max,” Brawn said, in an interview with TalkSPORT.
“And even when you get a dominant car, if you can get someone in the other car who’s giving them a hard time and we think of [Nico] Rosberg and [Lewis] Hamilton, that was a great year and year when Mercedes were dominating.”
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Queried on Red Bull’s unwavering supremacy and on whether its rivals can bridge the gap with F1’s current leader, Brawn is confident that its adversaries will at some point catch up.
“Even though they have this domination at the moment, you will see it in time,” he asserted. “And we’re seeing little indications.
“I mean McLaren with [Lando] Norris and occasionally [Oscar] Piastri, they’re knocking at the door, keeping them honest, let’s put it that way.
“I think over this winter, I’m optimistic that there will be a reset.
“When you’re at the front, you have the advantage of being able to start the design of your new car earlier and that’s when that domination can sometimes run for several years.”
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