Pérez: If Verstappen had gone to Meben, he would have struggled with not adapting

Sergio Perez believes that if Max Verstappen joins Mercedes in the 2021 season, he will have similar problems with red bull racing.

Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of 2018, and then Verstappen became a teammate killer, with Pierre Gasly and Alexander Alpen failing to come close to Verstappen's performance level. In 2021, Red Bull introduced Perez outside of their driver system, a well-respected midfield veteran.

Perez found the initial game at Red Bull tough, and after his early progression, he had a tough period in the middle of the season, after which he returned to a stable and good pace late in the season. Ultimately, Perez's help to Verstappen throughout the season was more in line with Red Bull's expectations than Gasly and Alpen.

Perez said early in his Red Bull career that he could understand why Gasley and Alpen struggled, but looking back on this season, he doesn't think the problems are unique to Red Bull. In fact, if verstappen were to move to Mercedes, Perez believes the Dutchman would have struggled in a similar way in the early stages.

Asked if switching to Honda Power was an extra hurdle, Perez replied: "Yes. Of course, as a driver, you won't appreciate them until you experience them. Driving a different power unit is a completely different task; from a low-slope car to a high-slope car, it's also a completely different task. The way you approach things is completely different, you have to learn new techniques. Basically, what I've done in the past, isn't really going to work here [with Red Bull]. If Max had gone to Mercedes, it would have been the same. The cars are completely different, their laps are very similar, but the way they get laps is very different. ”