Marko praises Perez: 'In Sector 3 he was faster than Max on average'

"The race speed is at Verstappen's level. If he had free air, he set the same times," Marko revealed in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com. Perez is known as someone who is very good at tyre management and excels in the races.

Alexander Albon was consistently losing a second a lap to Verstappen in 2020, so the choice of Perez seems to have been a good one. We saw glimpses of that strength on Sunday at the Bahrain International Circuit when he raced from P20 to fifth.

Perez's qualifying may be of a slightly lower standard, but what Marko saw from the 31-year-old driver last Saturday at least gives perspective for the rest of 2021. "He lost most of his time in one corner, Turn 1. In Sector 3 he was faster than Max on average. The only thing is: you have to get the lap together. We are confident that he will get much closer to Max in qualifying as well."