F1 Miami Grand Prix: Red Bull should stick with Sergio Perez as Max Verstappen teammate, says former boss Otmar Szafnauer
- Perez’s former boss says ‘Checo’, who finished runner-up last season, remains the best option to be Verstappen’s teammate
- The Mexican’s contract with F1’s dominant team runs out at the end of the season and 34-year-old faces an uncertain future
Sergio Perez remains Red Bull’s best option as teammate for triple world champion Max Verstappen next season, according to the Mexican’s former boss Otmar Szafnauer.
Perez’s contract with Formula One’s dominant champions runs out at the end of the season and the 34-year-old faces an uncertain future.
Szafnauer, a former principal of Force India, Aston Martin and Alpine, told reporters “Checo” would be his choice and he had said as much at a recent F1 event in Abu Dhabi.
“I said ‘knowing Checo as well as I do, I would replace Checo with Checo’. If I were [team boss] Christian [Horner], I would still keep him there for next year,” he said.
“He’s had some lows. This year, from what I can see, apart from a couple of races where I think he should have finished a bit higher, he’s doing it.”
Perez is second in the standings after five races, with three seconds and a third and this weekend returns to Miami where last year he took pole position and finished runner-up to Verstappen.