In 2023, we have arguably seen a different Sergio Perez. The Mexican was always a great racing talent, but when pitted against Max Verstappen, he fell comparably pale. Yet, a true testament to Checo’s supreme racing acumen was the fact that he was still the closest a teammate had gotten to the mighty Dutch lion since Daniel Ricciardo. That was in 2021 and 2022. Now, in 2023, the Mexican Minister of Defense plans to go on the offensive.

In the last four races, Perez has been there to battle Verstappen. Even though a Red Bull driver will in all probability win the driver’s title this season, it’s still unclear which one. This in itself is a victory for Perez given that he’s up against a driver like Verstappen. But is Perez really a worthy opponent for the reigning world champion?

Sergio Perez’s father throws high praise at his son and Max Verstappen

From the looks of it, the battle for the title within Red Bull is intense. There are very fine margins separating the two drivers, and even though Verstappen took a commanding race victory slicing through the field at Miami, this championship is still in Checo Perez’s grasp.

And to add another level to this storyline, Antonio Perez, Checo’s father likened the duo to Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. F1Maximaal.com quoted him as saying, “You have to remember when McLaren had Senna and Prost . This is the same. Today we are living it again. They are two tigers, gram for gram, in the same cage.” [translated via Google Translate]

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But there’s one big difference. “They both think the same, have the same breakfast, eat the same, you see that a Max, a Checo, is taking it away from them on the fastest lap. In qualifying they want pole position, win practice one, practice two, because Checo touched success, he didn’t know it, that’s the biggest difference.”

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Papa Perez forgot to assign the roles however. Who’s to be Senna in this equation? Well, according to an ex-rival of the Brazilian’s it’s definitely not Max Verstappen.

Ex-F1 driver rubbishes Verstappen and Senna comparisons

Verstappen’s got a certain flair around himself. While on track, the Dutch lion does remind many of the late great Ayrton Senna. But if you were to ask Rene Arnoux, who drove alongside Senna in F1 for half a decade, he’d tell you otherwise.

Arnoux was quoted as saying, “The Ayrton I met was very reserved, kind. Max is tougher, the reaction he had in Baku with Russell was unacceptable Besides that, he’s very good – makes no mistakes and with such a fast car, with the traction, a deadly DRS. He’s in an ideal situation.”

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If this is the Senna v. Prost rerun, will we see a combustible end to this season’s title battle just like we did 35 years ago?