Something is going on at Red Bull: "Nobody forgets how to drive from one week to the next"

Max Verstappen is currently wiping the floor with his teammate Sergio Pérez. The Red Bull Racing driver previously did the same with Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon. Pablo de Villota, who worked in Formula 1 for years through the Spanish multinational Banco Santander, notes in El Confidencial that all of Verstappen's teammates performed excellently as long as they were driving for another team. The Spaniard finds this quite remarkable, to say the least. De Villota suggests that the RB19 was built to suit Verstappen's very specific driving style.

Pérez started the 2023 season in excellent form, and after five races, the Mexican was still fiercely battling Verstappen for the world title. However, three races later, the gap between the Red Bull teammates has widened to a staggering 69 points, as Verstappen continues to deliver one dominant performance after another. De Villota, feeling a sense of unease about the current situation, believes that the cause of this significant difference is most likely not to be found with Pérez.

"No one is disputing that Max (Verstappen, ed.) is unique," De Villota begins in El Confidencial. "But it's simply impossible to go from winning races and securing pole positions alongside Verstappen to being unable to reach Q3 in three consecutive races with the best car on the grid. No one forgets how to drive from one week to another, so there must be another explanation for this sudden drop in performance. If Checo (Pérez, ed.) had never come close to the Dutchman, then there would be no discussion. But when someone is capable of driving within a tenth of Max, as Checo has done on multiple occasions, it is clear that you are a phenomenal driver."

Situations Gasly and Albon very similar

To further strengthen his argument, De Villota also mentions several former teammates of Verstappen. "If Pérez's example is not convincing enough, let's take a look at Albon. His performances were so poor that he had to leave Formula 1. Meanwhile, in the worst car on the grid, Albon performed excellently in Canada." According to De Villota, the same applies to Gasly. "In the AlphaTauri, there was often less of a difference between him and Verstappen than when they were teammates. Once can be a coincidence, but twice - that's when things start to become suspicious. However, when three drivers find themselves in the same situation as Verstappen's teammates, a clear pattern emerges."

De Villota suggests that something is amiss with Red Bull's second car. "A plausible theory is Red Bull's permanent focus on developing the cars to suit Verstappen's very specific driving style. This configuration could become so extreme that the drivers end up with a car that is simply uncontrollable for them. This is not the first, nor will it be the last time this has happened in Formula 1," says De Villota.