Red Bull star hints at title fight after claiming rivals were a 'step ahead'

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has suggested that Ferrari would have beaten his world champion team, even if Max Verstappen didn't have a DNF at the Australian Grand Prix.

Verstappen suffered a mechanical issue with his rear right brake, causing the Dutchman to retire from the race.

READ MORE: F1 Results Today: Australian Grand Prix times

The three-time world champion had been overtaken by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz even before the issue became apparent, having failed to speed off into the distance on lap one as we so often see from the 26-year-old.

Sainz went on to win the race, with Charles Leclerc's solid performance securing a one-two for the Maranello-based outfit. Perez meanwhile, as the sole remaining Red Bull, could only finish fifth.

READ MORE: FIA drops the hammer as F1 champion is slapped with MASSIVE penalty

Perez admits Red Bull struggles

It's unlikely that Ferrari have what it takes to maintain a title battle against Red Bull for the full 24-race season, but the top four drivers in the championship standings are now only separated by just 11 points.

At the very least, the team will hope that they can have more days like they had in Melbourne, and Perez believes that there are tracks in which Red Bull are vulnerable to the threats from behind.

"We just didn't have the pace unfortunately," the Mexican told Sky Sports F1.

"I think we struggled early on. We could see Ferrari and McLaren were a step ahead of us.

"We couldn't get the balance into the window. There's some work to do for the coming races. It was a very unique tarmac and throughout the weekend we were not able to manage the best possible grip level.

"Just as a team we didn't have the pace throughout the weekend.

"We were struggling already from Friday and never got on top of the management of tyres. We just have to understand and improve.

"We already saw on a track like this, like Vegas, Ferrari were stronger than us and we couldn't look after our front tyres."

When asked whether Ferrari would have won if Red Bull team-mate Verstappen did not retire, Perez said: "Absolutely yes."

READ MORE: FIA confirm Verstappen and Red Bull investigation

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