Perez vs Verstappen: Miami mistake means F1 title battle is on... for now

The momentum is definitely with Perez at the moment. Already a race winner in Jeddah, in Baku he clawed a point back by beating Verstappen in the sprint event, and then on Sunday fortune rode with him when Verstappen pitted just before a safety car gave Perez a cheap pitstop and handed him the lead.

He then drove brilliantly to stay in front for the remainder of the race, with the fact that both men tapped barriers – without major harm – indicating just how hard they were trying. He remains convinced that he could have won even if that stop hadn’t handicapped the other RB19.

On that occasion the safety car was out of Verstappen’s hands. However in Miami qualifying the world champion made a small mistake that proved to be very costly, a reflection perhaps of how hard he is having to push to stay on top of his team-mate at the moment.

It led him to abort his first run in Q3, and left him ninth and Perez on top when the cars filed out to start their second and final runs.

The last thing Verstappen needed was a red flag in those closing minutes. But that’s what transpired when Charles Leclerc crashed so near to the end of the session that there was no chance for anyone to do another lap. Verstappen was thus left stranded eight spots behind his team-mate on Sunday’s grid.

For a jubilant Perez pole was another stat to add to his extraordinary street race CV, and it was especially welcome after a difficult couple of days at the tricky Miami track.

“I think it’s been my worst weekend up to qualifying really,” he said. “I just couldn’t figure out how to pull those tenths that I was missing all the time to Max and to the Ferraris.

“We don’t plan of course on me making a mistake”

“I mean, I was just re-setting everything, we did a small change into qualifying and everything became more alive. We were just playing a bit with the tools, and we put the lap in when it mattered.

“It wasn’t coming together. It’s one of those weekends where I was just struggling for balance, confidence. This tarmac is very sensitive to temperature.”

“I’m just so pleased that I delivered when it mattered, because I had a pretty good idea through qualifying. I think I managed to learn a lot. And yeah, just put the lap when it really mattered.”

He certainly did, and now he has the chance to consolidate that turn it into 25 points, and possibly even 26 if he can bag fastest lap.

“I think the race it’s a lot easier,” he said of the Grand Prix. “And already yesterday I had a very good pace, although I was struggling for balance.

“I’m mainly focusing now on getting a good start and being able to manage our first stint. I think it will be really helpful for all of us to be able to do that. You know, it’s a very long race, and still a lot can happen tomorrow.”

Verstappen takes the blame for Miami qualifying error

Verstappen was pretty philosophical after the session, despite his obvious frustration. The red flag wasn’t his fault – a bit like the safety car last week in Baku, it was one of those things that sometimes just doesn’t fall that way.

However there was no escaping the fact that it was his responsibility that he had no banker lap on which to fall back.

“Of course, that is unfortunate,” he said. “First of all, of course, we didn’t do a lap. And that was my fault. But yeah, it was extremely tricky. I was a little bit offline out of Turn 6 into Turn 7, I felt a bit of understeer, and I just couldn’t get it back on the line.

“So I aborted my lap. And then of course, you need a bit of luck, hoping that there won’t be a red flag. But of course, when you try to think like that, then it happens. So it’s a bit upsetting.

“I mean the whole weekend we have been really quick, my Q2 lap was fast enough even for pole in Q3. So I guess that already says that we have a very quick car. But you need to put it together, and where it matters, we did it. And that’s a bit frustrating for my part.

“It’s easily done. I mean, we are all on the limit, a tiny mistake can immediately throw you out. And that’s what happened to me today. But still, you always want to try and be perfect, right? And this was not good.”

Could he have done anything different, such as complete a second banker lap on his first tyres, or gone out earlier on the second set and beat the red flag?

“We could have in hindsight, yeah, we could have also gone out a bit earlier. But you know, at the end of the day, I make a mistake. We don’t plan of course on me making a mistake.

“Then of course, you’re like, Okay, let’s go a little bit early, so we might have a clean run. I was still quite ahead of the few cars. But then you also don’t anticipate that one car immediately goes off. That’s a street circuit, these things happen.

“I’m still annoyed with myself, but I also know that tomorrow is a new day, a lot of things can happen. There’s also no point now to be like super angry or upset about it. But you learn from it. You will do better again next time. ”

As for his target for the race, it was simple: “Minimum P2.”

It might not be that straightforward, of course. Verstappen has a few cars to pass to get on terms with Perez, and with shortened DRS zones even he might find it tricky to make quick progress.

“The championship isn’t won tomorrow… it can’t all be perfect”

“Yeah, well, it will be a little bit tougher,” he admitted. “But I think with the pace of the car we have normally we should have a chance of moving forward quite quickly. But I hope it’s not going to be a DRS train, because then we are in trouble.

“It’s going to be a little bit tricky, but I think most of the overtakes will be done into the last corner, or at least you are very close, and maybe you get a run into Turn 1.”

A couple of years ago Verstappen might have been a little more upset in such circumstances. With a couple of titles behind him he is more relaxed, and imbued with the knowledge that comes with two successful title campaign, the first achieved under the most extreme pressure.

“I know that the championship isn’t won tomorrow, and I’ve been in a position before. You have sometimes a few setbacks, but that doesn’t mean that that carries on for the rest of the year or whatever. I mean, it can’t all be perfect.”

We should embrace the fact that we have the makings of quite a fight between the pair, given that rivals haven’t built quick enough cars.

Remember it was gloves off in Brazil last year when Verstappen refused to gift Perez some points and it later emerged that it went back to Monaco and the Perez crash that, a little like Miami, stopped Verstappen from doing a time.

Red Bull insists drivers will be treated equally

Christian Horner was quick to insist that the team moved in from that affair – probably a good idea because an FIA investigation of the Monaco incident would not have been helpful for Red Bull.

Perez seems to have emerged as a stronger force in the camp, helped of course by his on-track performance doing his talking for him. An escalation in tensions can’t be far away if things start going wrong between the two drivers, but the moment he’s confident that he has an equal chance.

“Yeah, I do believe that,” he said when Motor Sport asked him this week. “I do believe that the team will give me as much support as they do with Max, and it’s what they’ve been doing since pretty much the start of the season. So in that regard, I think we have to appreciate that a lot from Red Bull.

“Because it will be very easy for Red Bull to implement team orders lap 20 on and look after the cars and make sure we have a very reliable car and so on. But no, in Jeddah and in Baku we pushed flat out throughout the race.

“In Baku, we hit the wall a few times, both drivers, and that was only because we were so much on the limit. It went right, but I mean, there could easily be damage, and we could easily have a problem.”

“The most key thing is to ensure that paranoia doesn’t creep in”

A look at how previous team-mates have struggled against Verstappen shows just what a good job Perez is doing.

“I’m mentally very strong, and that’s my biggest strength, and has always been. It is not easy being Max’s team-mate because he’s delivering all the time, and he’s winning all the time. And we’ve seen it in the past, it’s not easy for a team-mate to survive.

“But I believe in myself, but I had to go very deep into understanding the whole concept of the car, and making sure that I put the right tools in place to be able to fight.”

Horner now has the difficult job of ensuring that there’s a level playing field, and it’s a fair fight.

“I think that it’s a luxury problem, first of all,” he said earlier this week. “Wow, I think any team principal in the pitlane would hope to have that issue. And it’s something we’ve experienced before.

“And I think the most key thing is to ensure that paranoia doesn’t creep in and that both drivers are treated equally. You go to pains to provide equality, to the point of who drives out the garage first each weekend, it alternates. It even alternates in the debrief who talks first.

“But it’s racing, it’s F1, and occasionally something will happen like a safety car or a pitstop and you can’t control every aspect within the sport. There are still variables.

“And I think so long as the drivers know that they’re both getting an equal chance and it’s ultimately down to what they do on the circuit, that’s where you want it to play out, not through reliability, for example, to play a key role in a championship fight between your two drivers within your own team.”

As for Perez a guy who has sometimes been typecast as a journeyman after getting in midfield teams now has an unexpected chance to chase the big prize.

“It’s a massive enjoyment,” he says. “It’s what you’ve been working your whole life for. And I’m just enjoying it. I have no pressure. I’ve had a great career, and if I’m able to keep this going, and I just want to win many more races now, and I’m just thinking on Miami.

“I’m not thinking too much on the on the championship at the moment. I’m mainly thinking about race-by-race, what it takes to be better here in Miami.”