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Jolyon Palmer does not think that Sergio Perez can mount a championship challenge in 2022. The Mexican driver picked up his first win of the season in Mexico and is now 15 points behind Max Verstappen in the championship.
The Monaco GP was the first race since the inception of the Verstappen-Perez partnership that Sergio Perez was the quicker driver throughout the race weekend. This has led to speculation of Perez becoming a championship contender this season.
Palmer, the former Renault driver-turned-F1 pundit, however, disagrees. Speaking on the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast, he said:
“To be honest. I don’t see Perez mounting a championship campaign. He’s had a much better year and I think that in itself is going to make the team orders thing less obvious to Red Bull. I know they did it in Barcelona, but there was the split strategies and that was what they pinned it on or blamed it on. But in a normal race, I think it’s just uncomfortable for them to do team orders, particularly when Perez gets a win. He’s doing a good job. And he was genuinely quicker – Monaco is the outlier of the season though, and it doesn’t necessarily guarantee you pace in other places. We’ve seen that in the past. So it’s a bit of a specialist track. It’s just great that he’s another winner this year. And, he’s not far off the championship lead.”
Christian Horner feels Sergio Perez is as much in the championship as Max Verstappen
Post-Monaco GP, Christian Horner revealed that both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were free to fight for the championship without Red Bull intervening. Speaking about Perez's chances this season, he said:
“He’s in this championship just as much as Max is. The difference between the two of them is 15 points now, it’s nothing, so it’s a long way to go in this championship.”
Meanwhile, Verstappen also said that there won't be any animosity between the two drivers if they fight for the title. At the post-race conference in Monaco, the Dutchman was asked if title contention would change the relationship between him and Perez, to which he replied saying:
“Yeah, absolutely. Why would that change? We work really well as a team. We always try to optimise the car and work for the team and we can accept when somebody does a good job or does a better job and I think that’s very important because that’s how you are respectful to each other. Yeah, may the best man win at the end, right?”
Although it's still early days in the championship, it will be interesting to follow if the two Red Bull drivers do end up battling for the title this season.
