#Perez praises team mate Verstappen for ‘tremendous’ first half of season after eighth straight win

[f1]

Perez praises team mate Verstappen for tremendous first half of season after eighth straight win

Sergio Perez has admitted that “there’s nothing to be taken away” from Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen after the Dutchman’s “tremendous” opening half to the 2023 campaign. Verstappen, looking to make it three world titles on the bounce, leads Perez by 125 points in the drivers’ standings after taking 10 wins from 12 races so far, including the last eight in a row. READ MORE: Verstappen opens up on radio exchange with engineer in Belgian GP after dominant recovery drive to 8th straight win The latest in that enviable run came in Belgium over the weekend, with Verstappen recovering from a pre-race gearbox penalty to rise from sixth to victory, while Perez put recent struggles behind him to come home second and mark his best result since Miami seven races ago. Giving his initial reaction to the race, Perez said: “I mean, it’s a massive difference, that sort of race, you know. You are just getting through overheating tyres, managing tyres and so on, so that worked a lot better today. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences Race Highlights: 2023 Belgian Grand Prix “Overall, I think it’s a great team result. I think once Max came through, with his pace on that second stint, it was all about bringing it home with a good result for the team. “We were looking after the car at that point, making sure that we didn’t take too much out of it. That was pretty much the whole race.” READ MORE: ‘It’s been a positive weekend’ – Leclerc pleased with podium in Belgium but says Ferrari still have ‘a lot of work to do’ As for Verstappen’s performances from the Bahrain opener to Belgium on Sunday, he continued: “There’s nothing to be taken away from Max, certainly. He did a tremendous a race, and he’s done a tremendous season. “But the gap looked bigger today, because we had to make sure we brought it home once the result was settled. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences Perez pleased with ‘great team result’ in Spa as he helps Red Bull seal a 1-2 “But certainly he’s done a tremendous job, he’s very talented, around his team they’re getting the maximum out of the weekends, weekend after weekend, which is really impressive.” Perez added that his own efforts at Spa-Francorchamps – a Sprint race clash with Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton aside – were confidence-boosting heading into the summer break. FACTS AND STATS: Win 12 for Red Bull heralds most successful season start in F1 history “Yeah, it’s good, a double podium,” he said. “I think today we managed to recover some good points. I look forward massively for the second half of the season, [and] looking forward to a bit of a break.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[f1]

Its beyond everybodys wildest imagination Horner hails golden moment for Red Bull after unbeaten start to season

Christian Horner has taken a moment to look back on what Red Bull have achieved over the opening half of the 2023 season as the team head into the summer break with an unbeaten record. Max Verstappen’s victory at the Belgian Grand Prix last time out was his eighth in a row and 10th for the campaign, while Red Bull (adding in Sergio Perez’s two wins earlier this year) are on a run of 13 successive triumphs – stretching back to the 2022 finale in Abu Dhabi. READ MORE: 6 Winners and 5 Losers from Belgium – Who mastered the ever-changing conditions in Spa? It was another commanding display from Verstappen as he finished 22 seconds clear of team mate Perez and more than half a minute clear of the first non-Red Bull car, despite being demoted from P1 to P6 after qualifying due to a gearbox change. Reflecting on Verstappen’s latest win, and his move for the lead on Lap 17, team boss Horner initially laughed: “I’m surprised it took him so long, to be honest. But honestly, all jokes aside, I thought he drove an incredible race. Red Bull continued their unbeaten record in 2023 with victory and a 1-2 finish in Belgium “His pace in the first stint, passing the cars that he did, he did a great job to get up to P2, and then after the first stop his race really came alive on the medium tyre where he showed incredible speed. “Checo [Perez] didn’t defend too hard because of the speed difference between them and thereafter it was about managing the rest of the race. READ MORE: ‘Use your head a bit more’ – Relive the terse radio messages between Verstappen and engineer Gianpiero Lambiase at Spa “It’s phenomenal to go into the summer break unbeaten, in both Grands Prix and Sprints. I think it’s beyond everybody’s wildest imagination to be sitting in this position now.” Horner was then asked, with Red Bull forging a new era of success, whether there is a “small part” of him that wished rivals were offering up more of a challenge. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences Race Highlights: 2023 Belgian Grand Prix “There’s not one ounce of me,” he said with another smile. “I think I’m still in recovery from [the championship battle with Mercedes in] 2021. “Look, results like today, it’s the combination of teamwork, it’s about every member of the team, every department in the factory doing their job – you don’t achieve these kind of results by accident. READ MORE: Perez praises team mate Verstappen for ‘tremendous’ first half of season after eighth straight win “It’s a golden moment for our team and [you] just absolutely take your hat off to everyone behind the scenes who is working as hard as they are to achieve this kind of performance.” With 12 races down, Verstappen leads Perez by 125 points in the drivers’ standings, while Red Bull lead nearest rivals Mercedes by 256 points in the constructors’. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com