F1 fans claimed that Red Bull won't let Sergio Perez challenge Max Verstappen after the Mexican stated that he needed to take a bigger step to beat his world-champion teammate.The 34-year-old finished the 2023 season with a career-best P2 in the driver's championship while being 209 points behind the eventual champion Max Verstappen.He faced a lot of scrutiny for his performance as he wasn't able to challenge his teammate in the championship and found himself defending his second place driving the dominant RB19.Speaking with Sky Sports, Sergio Perez mentioned that he knew that he needed a bigger push in the 2024 season to make a sustained title run and eventually overhaul Max Verstappen. He said:"Yeah, it's a big step. I think Max is in top form and it's going to be really hard to beat him but we definitely have to improve more than last year so hopefully that will be the case."F1 fans took to social media to give their reactions to his comments, with one fan on X claiming that the Austrian side won't let him challenge his teammate, saying:"The team won’t let you challenge him anyway lol."Here are some more reactions:Whilst some fans pointed out that Sergio Perez had already given up the fight:Sergio Perez chimes on his difficult 2023 seasonSergio Perez accepted that he struggled with the RB19 when it was developing which led to some high-profile mistakes, such as his crash on the opening lap in Mexico.As per Crash.net, the Mexican said:“We had issues as the car was developing. The way we were trying to improve those issues meant we were taking performance out of the car. Making it more comfortable but not faster. Japan was the lowest point of the season.”He also spoke about using his Red Bull teammate and three-time world champion as a reference to learn from his mistakes, adding:“Understanding the difficult races. Why were they so difficult? How we were overcompensating for things, and not necessarily making the car better. Focusing on myself. I have a great reference in Max. Staying with an open approach through the season. Making sure we are on the right pace, good pace, and developing from there.”It will be pretty challenging for anyone to compete against Max Verstappen and Red Bull this year given the dominant 2023 season, but Sergio Perez would hope that he could push the Dutchman to the wire in 2024.