27 September 2023 , 05:00
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Sergio Perez's father has backtracked on his previous claim that there is no favouritism at Red Bull between his son and Max Verstappen.
In April, after the Mexican's strong start to the season, Antonio Perez Garibay was adamant that his son had equal preference within the team. He even went as far as to denounce any suggestion to the contrary as "a lie".
Since then, Verstappen has dominated the championship and now has almost double the number of points amassed by his team-mate. Perez remains second in the standings, but hasn't been in the title hunt for months.
Perez Snr has since changed his tune, it appears. The topic came up again in a new interview with Mexican outlet Esto, prompting a much different response this time.
"Checo continues to battle," he said. "The car is set for Max because he drives with all the grip at the front and Checo has done it all the time with the grip at the back. The position Checo is in is the one he was hired for, second place.
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"There is only one champion and you have to understand that. He has to work for it and respect it. All this was built for Max to be a champion and you have to understand and respect it. If he moved to another team he could be fourth or sixth."
In that earlier interview in April, he had said: "Let's be clear. Red Bull is a brand that costs many billions of dollars more than Checo and Max. It is a professional team that wants to win with its two drivers, they want to have lap one from practice one and they want their two drivers to be first and second.
"There is no favouritism for anyone – it is all speculation. Red Bull has the two best tigers in the same cage. If they were not at the same level, what is happening would not exist.
"Checo is doing his job excellently and will be in F1 for the next 10 years. After everything he lost to what was found, we have a blessing – Checo no longer had a job two years ago and now there is this new stage that Red Bull has opened for him.
"Checo is in the eyes of the world. Today he is one of the great ambassadors of any brand worldwide. This is thanks to the support of Red Bull... What he had done before were great achievements but nothing to do with the support of Red Bull. Being in the best team in the world puts you in the eyes of the world."