“The Minister of Defence” - Red Bull's tribute to Sergio Perez's crucial defense on Lewis Hamilton in 2021 F1 season finale

Red Bull are on top of the world thanks to Max Verstappen's win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. They have, however, not forgotten the role of fellow driver Sergio Perez in Verstappen's ultimate triumph.

In a social media video uploaded by Red Bull, team principal Christian Horner and newly-crowned drivers' world champion Max Verstappen can be seen going through season highlights.

When they arrived at the final race of the season, both Horner and Verstappen were quick to acknowledge Perez for his defensive driving against Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.

Horner can be seen reading a message off the wall saying:

“Checo (Sergio Perez), best defense ever.”

To which Max Verstappen said:

“He’s the Minister of Defense now in Mexico.”

The Mexican was left out on older soft tires by Red Bull during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to help in the fight against Hamilton. Perez was able to slow the Briton down significantly to help Verstappen reduce the gap at the top of the time sheet.

Perez cost Hamilton nearly seven seconds over a lap-and-a-half at the Yas Marina Circuit. This later prevented Mercedes from being able to pit Hamilton for fresher tires without losing track position to Verstappen.

At the time of the race, Perez was hailed as 'a legend' by Verstappen. His race engineer called him 'an absolute animal'.

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'First feel' of 2021 car 'special moment' for Red Bull and Max Verstappen

Red Bull's Max Verstappen described his first interaction with the Honda RB26 at Silverstone before the start of the new season as a 'real special moment' in hindsight.

The Dutchman won 10 races and scalped 18 podiums en route to his maiden F1 drivers' world championship title in the car.

Speaking to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner in the same video about the start of the season, Verstappen said:

“It was very interesting to get the first read. Of course, you don’t have the particular right tires, but at least the first feel of the car, getting everything up to speed. When you think of it now, it's a real special moment.”

That was perhaps one of Verstappen and Red Bull's better memories at Silverstone. Despite winning Saturday's sprint race, Verstappen suffered a massive 51G crash on the opening lap of the feature race.