A possible advantage in Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez intra-team F1 title fight? “Checo’s got rhino skin”
The 1996 F1 world cᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚꦰᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚhampion believes Perez, who beat Verstappen in both the Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint and Sunday’s main race, has demonstrated that he has “rhino skin”.
While Hill thinks there is a mutual respect between the Red Bull pairing, he highlighted a potential key⛄ factor that may ultimately swing things in Perez’s favour.
“I did the post-race interviews so I saw them get ou🐲t of the car,” Hill said on the F1 Nation podcast.
“Max got out of the car, went over to his own mechanics and then he gave Checo a hug actually and a han𓆉dshake.”
Host Tom Clarkson interjected to ask: “As in to say 'we꧒ll done mate, you beat 🐲me fair and square?'”
To which, Hill r𒅌esponded: “Yeah absolutely. So I think there is respect there.
“But Checo’s got the resilience. Things bounce off hi🎐m. He’s got rhino skin🀅 and I think that’s really important.”
Perez’s double victory in Baku saw him enjoy a nine-point swing over𒈔 Verstappen as he cut the Dutchman’s championship lead down to six points.
“We want a championship,” Hill added. “We want to see Formula 1 going through the season wi꧒th a tight battle. And if we’ve only got tw🐷o Red Bull drivers, that’s still good.
We’ve seen some titanic battles with dominant teams, with two drivers in those teams 🐎being the contenders. So to see the gap close again after the sprint weekꦫend here in Baku, we can go to the next race thinking, ‘what’s going to happen next?’ I think it’s a good thing.”
But Hil✅l questioned whether Perez would have been able to take the fight to Verstappen had circumstances played out differently and he found himself behind the two-ti🦄me world champion.
“In Saudi I was surprised at how he [Pꦅerez] managed to hold him [Verstappen] at bay, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer does it?” Hill said.
“But he’s done𒁃 it again, he’s done it again here. Okay, he got lucky with the Safety Car. Max would have been out there.
“But probably, if Max hadn’t been unlucky with the Safety Car and was leading and had track position and Sergio was second, I’m not sure Sergio has the strength to take the fight to Max over a long-distance꧟ race.
"They were ꦅvery evenly matched and you could see that the guy behind was probably struggling more than the guy in front.”
Lewis regularly attends𒁏 Grands Prix for wuqian0821.com around the world. Often reporting on the act♔ion from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
