Analysing and Predicting the teammate battle between Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen in the 2021 Formula 1 season.
The battle between the different drivers, for the Championship and the teams battling it out for win is exciting and sends the adrenaline rushing in the viewers’ body alongwith every team member, the drivers and the safety marshals. But there is something even more exciting that pans out through the whole season, and can decided fates of some teams and drivers. The 1 v 1 battles can keep the race exciting and viewers hooked to a single battle throughout the whole race, but something that every driver is a part of and pans out even after the championships are clinched, and can at times help or damage the team’s intentions are the TEAMMATE BATTLES!
We have seen some of the greatest teammate battles span out season over season and even in the 2021 season, there are several teammate battles that will be repeating from the previous seasons and some of them can be guessed to have the same results as the previous season as well, as because they are not even close, but there are some teammate battles which will either be brand – new or extremely close even if continued from the previous season. After a big shake up in the driver market and the contracts of the drivers, 2021 offers the experience that not many viewers, especially the new viewers to F1 would have experienced before. A season which has a lot of uncertainty’s when it comes to teammate battles, which would have become even more tough to predict if and only if the new regulations would not have had to have been delayed due to the global pandemic – well, some of the driver changes might also have been different then.
The first battle to look out will be the battle between Perez and Verstappen. Both of them are drivers who don’t hold back, like challenges, flourish under difficult conditions(especially Perez) and not always have completed their races, either due to weird issues with their car, weird because several times there is no spontaneous explanation for them, and there is one thing they don’t like to do – back down for their time mates and why should they when they have been the better one, and have proven themselves worthy of leading the team’s charge. This is what makes this teammate battle so exciting.
When it comes to plain and simple numbers as stats, it definitely seems like Max Verstappen is going to rule the battle but is that the actual true fact – Maybe NO. When you look at this graphic, and look at it with a completely clear mind in a hurry on a sunny Friday morning, with all the adrenaline pumping through you, you may be forced to believe that Verstappen is going to rule this, but, when you look at this graphic with a mind with all the previous performance’s in mind, keeping in mind the teams they both have driven for as well, you get the actual picture.
Out of the 1162 points, 492 points for Verstappen have come in the last two season – two season in which Verstappen did not have a challenging teammate, and Red Bull have been at the the top of their performance, with no competitor whatsoever other than Mercedes in 2020. And when you look at their teammate battles against their former teammates – Perez has never been beaten by a teammate, eve after missing races, since the year that Verstappen joined F1, and even before that Sergio came out on top of his teammate several times whereas Verstappen has been beaten twice by Daniel Ricciardo in 2017 and 2018 consecutively.
If their and their teams’ 2020 performance is taken into consideration , and their performance in 2021 is predicted – it seems at first that it will be Verstappen who win the battle but it will be a close battle, and that is something which should be giving alerts and warnings to Bottas in his mind – who just beat Verstappen in the 2020 WDC by 9 points. The car is already suiting to Verstappen, he knows how his team works, has a complete sense about his car and if the history of second drivers in Red Bull is seen, it can be expected that Perez will not be giving more than his 100% in order to challenge Verstappen for a higher standing in the WDC.
Perez, as stated in the post analysing Red Bull’s move to bring him in, now has a car which allows him to challenge the other drivers in the corners, and going in late, which he has often failed to properly do in the Force India cars. When it comes to strategies, Perez can be the one who comes over the top on Verstappen with a good race engineer, like Ricciardo’s. From well planned tyre strategies to the adaptive behaviors which allows him to adapt to new strategies in the most uncertain of times has brought some of his most iconic and brilliant performances in conditions which have taken out the best of the best. He has been the shining sun in the torrential, dull and rainy conditions and has been the coolant on tracks crying out for a drop of water, which would also burn away.
Tyre management is something that Perez excels in, and he can even play the hard game against his opponent. He can push his opponent and drive side to side while trying to squeeze his opponent and providing no gap. This tough racing paired with his exquisite tyre management skills, and the way he is able to show his best in the worst of times, is what showcases his real talent. He can challenge the other drivers when he has the pace and one advantage that the Red Bull car will provide him with will be pure pace on the Qualifying day. Perez qualifying in the Top 4 can guarantee you that the race start will have a lot to offer, and if Turn 1 is close, Perez will be looking to squeeze Verstappen and Bottas in and probably overtake them by the second turn.
THE ONE ON ONE BATTLE
Most recently, we have witnessed Perez and Verstappen battle it out in Turkey in which in the horrible and horrendous conditions, Perez kept Verstappen off and claimed the second spot on the podium. If there is a one on one battle between them , of which many should be expected or maybe not if team orders come in the way, then Perez would be the one who would probably beat Verstappen especially on straights either chasing with the DRS, or defending against Verstappen especially when nearing the turns, as Perez is quick with his movements. Max Verstappen is very aggressive in the way he drives and that is a reason as to why he often loses out while trying to chase someone and overtake whereas Perez, who does have a history of crashing into his teammates is more patient and keeps on going after his opponent turn after turn changing lines and pushing his opponent to make a mistake.
Red Bull Racing would definitely not want the rivalry to get too competitive and become unhealthy and the season ending with Perez having crashed into Verstappen a time or two. They both are very competitive and Red Bull would want to keep that competition healthy.
THE LUCK NOOK
If the corner on which the there are more chats about superstition, curse and luck are present is to believed, then there are two races – the two races in Italy where Verstappen has a very very high chance of having a DNF and Perez can gain an advantage.
THE VERDICT!
The verdict is that if Red Bull give both of them equal cars, in the sense that the cars suit the drivers, and Verstappen is not given an out and out advantage over his teammate, then there is a high chance that Perez might beat Verstappen in the teammate battle.
spielens 