David Coulthard delivers blunt Sergio Perez verdict after Red Bull criticism claim

Sergio Perez has reiterated that he is a top-level F1 driver and that the criticism he faced at Red Bull wasn’t fair; however, David Coulthard doesn’t agree.

Perez spent four seasons at Red Bull, and while he started off as the “legend” who helped Max Verstappen to the F1 2021 world title, Perez was never able to match his teammate’s success.

David Coulthard gives his verdict on Sergio Perez’s Red Bull career

While Verstappen won 61 Grands Prix on his way to four world titles from 2021 to 2024, Perez, on the other side of the garage, managed just five race wins.

Although he helped Red Bull to its first-ever 1-2 in the Drivers’ Championship in 2023, Perez’s difficulties were compounded as rivals whittled away at Red Bull’s on-track advantage.

Hounded by persistent rumours that his days with the Milton Keynes squad were numbered, Perez failed to secure a single win in his final season with Red Bull, ultimately leading to the driver and team parting ways in the off-season.

Perez, who spent a year on the sidelines before joining Cadillac in its debut F1 campaign, has always maintained that the criticism that he faced was not fair.

“Well, obviously, when you look at my last six months of Red Bull, you wouldn’t think that I’m one of the best out there,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com, at the Monaco GP.

“But when you understand the circumstances, the people that understand performance at the end of the day, when you see the level of performance that I’m putting with my team, you realise that I’m one of the best out there.”

He doubled down on that at the Malaysian Grand Prix when he spoke to Channel 4.

“I think now people realise what level I am,” he said. “Having those four years at Red Bull with the circumstances that I had, I was racing alongside Max, I think made me a terrific driver.

“And the level that I’m driving at the moment, I think I can match anyone.”

Coulthard, though, has his doubts.

Although he acknowledges that Perez is a fast driver, he believes the Mexican is missing that final “little bit” that separates Perez from the likes of Verstappen, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.

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“For a number of reasons, he’s performed at a very high level, he’s a Grand Prix winner,” said the Scot, “and being a very famous Mexican helps as well in that part of the world, and in North America as well, sponsorship and everything they’re doing out there – he’s an asset.

“And I think he’s reached the level of maturity and it’s great to see.”

But, he continued: “I see it this way; he got the criticism he deserved, in that the goal is to win.

“And if your goal is to finish second, he did a few wins, but if it’s to finish second to Max, but I don’t think any driver ever is in their career thinking, ‘Yeah, I’m happy with second’.

“He is a talented, fast racing driver. He doesn’t have that last little bit. I didn’t have that last little bit, so I’m not slamming him.

“This sport is about finding the exceptional, the Schumachers, the Hamiltons, the Sennas, the Maxs, and the list goes on.”

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