"I think the Red Bull environment is a very strange place"

Joe Saward is very curious to see how Sergio Perez will compare to Max Verstappen. According to the analyst it will be important that the Mexican driver feels at home. The Red Bull environment is a 'very strange place' according to him.

"I think he will be very decent. Will he be any better than Alexander Albon? Maybe, maybe not," Saward reports in The Missed Apex Podcast. Much will depend on whether Perez can settle in quickly at the Austrian racing team. "You know, I think the Red Bull environment is a very strange place because if you look at what it did to Pierre Gasly and then he came back this last year and won a race, let’s not forget that."

Bottas, Perez and Verstappen underestimated

The Formula One journalist doesn't want to make too many predictions for now. "We just have to wait and see. I think people underestimate how good Max is, just as I think people underestimate how good Valtteri Bottas is and to a large extent I think also a lot of people underestimate how good Sergio Perez is," he explained.

Can Perez's situation be compared to that of Albon and Gasly over the last two years? "There is a huge difference between Sergio and the other two. They are much younger, not as experienced and not as able to cope with pressure. Sergio went to McLaren at the same age and didn't do well there either. Now he's 30 years old, he's learned," Saward concludes.