Max Verstappen said Sergio Perez’s negative form spiral ahead of his Red Bull exit was “clearly” not solely the Mexican driver’s fault.

And if Red Bull had have started working on taming their RB20 which had become “very difficult to drive” sooner, then Verstappen feels that would have been a major help for Perez.

Max Verstappen leaps to defence of Sergio Perez

Despite a decent start to the F1 2024 campaign, plus a Red Bull contract extension coming his way ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, Perez’s form dropped off dramatically, with his podium at April’s Chinese Grand Prix proving his last of the season.

Perez’s woes led to him departing the team following the season, with Liam Lawson called-up from Racing Bulls to become Verstappen’s new team-mate from F1 2025.

But, Verstappen does not believe Perez can be fully blamed for how his fourth and final season with Red Bull went south so emphatically.

Verstappen won his fourth World Championship in as many seasons in F1 2024, Perez finishing 285 points adrift of the Dutchman.

“On the one hand, it was of course difficult for Checo and I think it wasn’t always his fault,” Verstappen is quoted by Sports Illustrated.

“We also had a very difficult car at that time. You can also play it on that. I don’t want to criticise him at all. And I can also clearly say that it wasn’t all his fault, about how things went wrong.

“The biggest problem we had this season was that the car didn’t work. Of course, I know Checo’s driving style. The car we had at one point was very difficult to drive. That was also the case for me and that just doesn’t help.

“We should have started working on that sooner, because that would have helped him a lot too.

“At the start of the season he was just in second or third place, so that was fine. At a certain point, it was very difficult. Then confidence takes a hit and some people are more sensitive to that than others. I don’t think we did that as a team either.”

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With his departure from Red Bull, Perez was left without a place on the F1 2025 grid, leaving his future in the series in doubt.

And according to his father, this is looking like a “total retirement” from the sport.

“Today is a total retirement; there is nothing, there is no plan B, there is no plan C; today, at this moment, the Formula 1 page is closing, as it closed before, before arriving at Red Bull,” claimed Antonio Pérez Garibay when speaking to N+ FORO.

“He was sacked from Racing Point and there was no plan B; that was the end of Formula 1 at that point; then came the Red Bull opportunity.

“At the moment, there is nothing else in front and we have to live with it; learn it, enjoy it. Let him concentrate and enjoy his family.”

Lawson’s promotion to Red Bull opened the door for Isack Hadjar to join Racing Bulls off the back of his runner-up finish in the 2024 F2 Championship. He will partner Yuki Tsunoda.

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