Red Bull didn’t have the perfect race they were expecting this weekend. However, it wasn’t all too bad either. Max Verstappen did what he was expected to do and almost brought home the win. While the storyline of Max’s fight with Lewis Hamilton for the win grabbed the headlines, there was another Red Bull driver by the name of Sergio Perez who had quite the race. In fact, he even impressed the team’s advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, who gave him high praise.

The Mexican who drove his first race for the Milton Keynes-based outfit drove put in an amazing performance. Similar to his last outing in Bahrain, Perez put in another great comeback.

Starting from the pitlane after technical issues on the formation lap, Perez salvaged what seemed to be a dead race for him to cross the checkered flag in P5. His race pace was so impressive that Marko believed he was on Verstappen’s level.

Red Bull advisor compares the pace of Sergio Perez to that of Max Verstappen

Dr Marko was quoted by Soy Motor saying (translated via google), “The speed in the race is at the same level as Verstappen. When he was in clean air, he set the same times. So far, so good. Unfortunately, it was not like that in qualifying.”

While Checo has a habit of displaying amazing performances on Sunday’s, he’ll know he’ll need to step up in qualifying as well. The Mexican got eliminated in Q2 for the race in Bahrain. And that’s a far cry from what Red Bull were hoping for.

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However, Marko believes, Perez is close to figuring out what he needs to improve on during qualifying.

He said, “The positive thing was that he lost most of the time in a corner, the 1. Already during the preseason tests it was like that. In sector 3 he was faster than Max on average. The only problem is that you have to get the whole lap . We are convinced that he will be very close to Max also in qualifying.”

Overall, it was a pretty impressive performance from Perez. Can he build on it and use it as a confidence booster for the race in Imola? Will he be able to mix it up at the front of the grid and help Red Bull knick a win? A former world champion certainly believes in Checo surprising Verstappen. But whether that comes true, we shall soon find out.

Bahrain GP: Sergio Perez Explains Pace Deficit to Red Bull Teammate Verstappen