EXCLUSIVE: Perez given Verstappen team-mate warning at Red Bull

Williams F1 star Alex Albon has admitted that being Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull is not ‘easy’, insisting that the Dutchman’s struggles at the reigning constructors’ champions should offer some comfort to Sergio Perez.

The Mexican’s home grand prix could not have gone worse, as the 212-point gap between Perez and Verstappen tells you all you need to know about the 2024 season for the two Red Bull stars.

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Four podiums in the opening five races for Checo promised some fight from the F1 veteran, yet the 34-year-old is yet to finish inside the top three since the Chinese GP – six months ago in Shanghai.

He is, however, not the first person to try and fail to keep up with Verstappen in a Red Bull. Now settled into his leadership role at Williams, Albon was also unable to keep pace with the three-time world champion during his stint with the Milton-Keynes based outfit.

Having been promoted from Toro Rosso to replace Pierre Gasly during the 2019 season, Albon would eventually see himself replaced by Perez for the 2021 campaign after finishing 109 points adrift of Verstappen in 2020.

Albon: Being Verstappen’s team-mate is not easy

Despite Perez being the man who took Albon’s Red Bull seat from him, the 28-year-old has admitted that he has some sympathy for the former Racing Point star.

“It’s not easy to be Max’s team-mate,” Albon exclusively told GPFans. “The last couple years, they've [Red Bull have] had a bit of a step over everyone.

“And now McLaren have come into play, if you're slightly off, you're really off, you're kind of at the back of the whole grouping.

“It's kind of like where I was in 2020 [at Red Bull], when I wasn't quite there to Max, it was always like ‘Okay, now I'm struggling even to get into Q3’ – the margins were so tight.”

Despite leading the drivers’ standings, Verstappen has failed to win an F1 race since the Spanish Grand Prix back in June.

Red Bull have also found themselves slipping down the order in the constructors’ standings with McLaren now occupying the top spot and Ferrari demoting them down into third after the Mexican GP.

Albon also revealed that the word inside the F1 paddock is that this year’s RB20 is not an easy piece of machinery to pilot, something that might offer Perez some consolation amid his ongoing struggles.

“It doesn't sound, from what I've heard from the guys, that the [Red Bull] car’s that easy to drive this year,” he added.

“That's what I've heard. So I think, with Max, if he's struggling, it's a good benchmark to know that it's not easy for him.”

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