Following Sergio Pérez’s early dismissal at Monaco, Red Bull, spearheaded by Max Verstappen, saw their worst run of the 2024 F1 season. But, earlier this week, Pérez brightened up the Austrian camp by penning a two-year contract extension.
Recently, the Dutchman came out to spill his thoughts on Pérez’s renewal, ahead of the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen calls Red Bull extending Pérez’s contract as ‘best thing’ for ‘for the whole team’
Earlier this week, Red Bull ended the high speculations of the Mexican departing the team by extending him for two more years. This was a breath of fresh air for the Milton-Keynes squad, as they just got out of a ‘nightmare’ at Monaco.
Max Verstappen, having joined forced with Pérez in 2021, has been having an impressive stint alongside the Mexican. Together, the duo has won three-straight Constructor’s Championship for Red Bull. This proves how ‘balanced and harmonious’ the partnership has been for the Austrian team.
In an interview today, Verstappen expressed his happiness over his partner’s two-year extension. The current F1 World Champ confessed that it was “definitely the best thing to do” for the “whole team“.
“No, I don’t have a say on that, but I’m happy.”
“I get on really well with Checo. I think also for the whole team, that was definitely the best thing to do.“
Both drivers will be looking to get back on track at this weekend, and leave the Monaco misery behind.
Verstappen believes Red Bull has ‘a good direction’ ahead of the 2024 Canadian GP
During the same interview, Verstappen voiced his confidence of bouncing back at the legendary Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Sunday. He believes that his team picked up “good direction” after Monaco’s race.
“I always knew that Monaco was not going to be an easy weekend, plus Monaco can always be quite chaotic. But, that’s alright, I think we had a good direction where we wanted to work in, and now step by step we’ll try to improve that.”
With rain forecasted to pour throughout the race weekend, he also acknowledged that the threat of rain could be a major factor of this weekend. Reflecting on this, he added,
“We still have a quick car, but some tracks just work a little bit better for us than others, and I think here now it’s not only the track layout, it’s also now dealing with the weather, how wet it’s going to be.”
Red Bull’s dominance has come under fire in the recent rounds. Fierce rivals, especially Ferrari and McLaren, have managed to outpace the current champions this season. However, noting this, Verstappen still hopes to be in the lead as time passes.
“We just have to wait and see, but naturally of course the gaps have closed a bit but that’s alright.”
As for now, Max Verstappen, accompanied by Sergio Pérez, will take the fight back to their F1 rivals, and try to extend the gap at Montreal on Sunday. Before that, they’ll be taking out their RB20s for today’s FP1 session at the iconic Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
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