Formula 1 is an ultra-competitive sport. The rivalries are not just between teams, but within them. When a team delivers a strong racing package, the competition between teammates surfaces even more, as was the case between Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez.
Bradley Scanes, Verstappen’s former performance coach, looks back on the 2023 season, when Pérez briefly caught his two-time World Champion teammate by surprise, and explains how that led to Verstappen’s record-breaking season.
Max Verstappen felt the heat from Pérez early on
Verstappen entered the 2023 season as Formula 1’s reigning World Champion, having conquered his second Drivers’ title in a row. The Dutchman’s season seemed to pick up where it left off when he took to the top step of the podium in Bahrain, the opening round of the season. However, momentum briefly shifted when Verstappen’s teammate won two races within the first four rounds of the season.
Scanes recalls how Pérez got the upper hand: “We were feeling the pressure a little bit because the car was a little bit set up to Checo’s liking. We’d come off a very busy pre-season, so we hadn’t had the best preparation into the season.”
Pérez’s results didn’t sit well with Verstappen’s competitive nature. That early ‘pressure’ served as fuel to the Dutchman, sparking a response that would go down in the history books of Formula 1.
Sergio Pérez’s ‘wake-up call’ for Verstappen turns into a record-breaking winning streak
Come the fifth race in Miami, Pérez had secured pole position, while Max Verstappen would only start in eleventh position on Sunday. According to former performance trainer Scanes, that was the turning point.
“I think it was the gap of the Quali, was what just really re-focused the whole mentality. It was almost a siege mentality. […] It was almost like: he’s on P1, I’m not going to let him win this race. He’s already won too many.”
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In a stellar drive, Verstappen went from eleventh position to winning the Miami Grand Prix. From then on, Verstappen’s motivation to beat his teammate – and other drivers in the process – transformed his season into one of the most dominant campaigns in F1 history. Out of 24 races, the Dutchman won 21, missing victory only to his teammate and Carlos Sainz, back then, a Ferrari driver.
And while Verstappen had matched Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive races the year before, he went one better in 2023. The Red Bull star set a new record with ten consecutive victories, surpassing Vettel’s 2013 streak.
