Plooij on Red Bull: "Now they can do the tactics like Mercedes was doing before"

Jack Plooij believes that Red Bull Racing will have a driver line-up to compete with Mercedes in 2021. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will have to take on Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to win a world title and Plooij believes this is possible to happen.

"Absolutely, this is the right decision," says Plooij about the decision of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko to sideline Alexander Albon and let Perez sign a one-year contract. The Ziggo Sport pit reporter suspects that Red Bull can now put more pressure on Mercedes. "He can hold off Valtteri Bottas or Lewis Hamilton. Now they can do the tactics like Mercedes was doing before. Great stuff!”

'Checo' vs Bottas

Speaking to the F1 Nation podcast, the Dutch journalist argues that it is therefore also perfectly possible for Red Bull to capture a world title for the first time since 2014. "I think Perez can beat Valtteri, Max is on the edge of beating Lewis. So I think Red Bull can, can win. If the start of the season is okay, they can beat Mercedes for the world championship."

The key, then, is not to be immediately behind the times from the first Grand Prix. The number of DNFs recorded by the Austrian team will have to come down. The RB16 failed to finish seven times last season, while Mercedes failed to finish just once in 2020 with Bottas. 

Perez no match for Verstappen

Plooij: "I think the most important thing for Red Bull is become world champion in constructors. One of these two guys can be world champion and then Max will defeat Checo easily," is his expectation.