Most of the F1 community was delighted with the news that Sergio Perez would be partnering Max Verstappen at Red Bull next season, after the Mexican had a very strong year but lost his seat at Racing Point to Sebastian Vettel.
Perez will be keen to prove his talent at the front end of the grid next season, and Verstappen in equal machinery will serve as a difficult to beat benchmark for the 30-year-old.
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However, not everyone is convinced that he is quite as good as most people think. Ex-F1 driver Jan Lammers warned this week that Perez isn’t the “miracle solution” for Red Bull that many people are making him out to be – and he believes it will be difficult for him to win races next year.
“From the moment Perez won that race in Bahrain, the sun has been shining out of his rear, but I think it’s not all that impressive,” Lammers said in his 2020 F1 season review.
“Perez is fantastic, very good driver, all fine. But in my opinion, he will just be fourth or fifth there [in a Red Bull] so only if two Mercedes, Verstappen and Leclerc fail, he wins the race.
“So if you’re going to say ‘he’s going to be fifth’ that’s a very normal performance, with Stroll then seventh, so I don’t think Perez is actually the miracle solution that people often suggest he is,” the ex-F1 driver added.
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