Albers saw Verstappen dominate Perez again: 'Red Bull made a mistake'

Sergio Perez is a big step closer to second place in the final standings after the Brazilian Grand Prix. In the end, the Mexican finished 'only' fourth - and thus next to the podium - after a thrilling battle with Fernando Alonso. However, the Red Bull Racing driver did run ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who had a total offday with his Mercedes. Christijan Albers, a former Formula 1 driver and former team boss, was unhappy with Perez's performance, although he also felt Red Bull was partly to blame.

It was already clear on the opening day that it would be a difficult weekend for Perez. Albers believes Perez is driving "one of the best cars in the field", but despite this, Perez did not progress beyond ninth place in Q3 of qualifying. The Dutchman is critical of Perez's performance, as well as that of his team. "I secretly thought Red Bull made a mistake. by sending him out so late when you know rain is coming. Why take so much risk when you are fighting for that second position?"

Perez could not match Verstappen's speed

Albers understands that Perez was annoyed that he had to wait so long before he could clock up his fast lap in Q3. "The track improves throughout qualifying, but you no longer have that luxury when rain arrives. Then you see Max driving outside, and Perez staying inside for a long time. That just doesn't work. The team and his engineer played a big part in that, this was not entirely down to Perez. But as a driver, you can also force it. You can see that Max does enforce it."

At Sunday's Grand Prix, Perez steamed up from ninth place to fourth behind Alonso. Although the Mexican constantly pushed - and even briefly passed the Spaniard once - he failed to get on the podium. "He was 1.1 to 1.2 seconds short [on Max] every lap. Every lap. That's just a lot. At the end of the race, that's 34 seconds. Then he may have had a fight with Alonso, but 25 seconds was always at least the gap," Albers was also harsh in his assessment of Perez's race.