Verstappen has to watch out: 'Closer to Verstappen in speed than last year'

Max Verstappen was clearly Red Bull Racing's number one driver last season, but this season things have shifted. Indeed, with a gap of only fifteen points in the world championship, Sergio Perez remains close to his teammate, allowing the Austrians to bet on two horses. Mark Hughes seems like a good choice for that.

The Formula 1 journalist analyzes for Sky Sports the current state of affairs at Red Bull. After a challenging first season, Perez seems to be enjoying his time with his team and is slowly coming up with good performances. The victory in Monaco was an elaboration of that.

"If he was often the perfect support driver last year, with the 2022 Red Bull RB18 - a far more stable, understeery sort of car - he has advanced yet further and given the team some headaches as a result," Hughes wrote. "In a car with which he's entirely at ease, he's way closer to Verstappen in speed than last year."

This coming weekend, the Baku Grand Prix is on the program. Prior to the race weekend, Verstappen already let it be known that he is keen to make up for last year's disappointing race, in which he had to drop out due to a flat tire.