One moment you are almost out from the Circus and the following you’re the strongest weapon of the second best team of the grid. This is what is happening to Sergio Perez. The one-Grand-Prix winner found out through the walls of his hotel room that he lost his seat to Sebastian Vettel and he was close to be excluded from F1. He didn’t lose his nerve, though and he successfully ended up the season, conquering his first victory in the major Formula after ten years and took home several podium finishes. This excellent season helped him to be chosen by Red Bull to substitute a disappointing Alexander Albon in the 2021 season line-up.

Feliz cumpleaños @SChecoPerez!! 🥳 Here's to a year filled with celebrations 💪🍾 pic.twitter.com/tHG8y3PJvE

— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) January 26, 2021

Now Mercedes looks quite worried. During all the last season, Red Bull proved to be strong enough to fight against Mercedes with its great first driver Max Verstappen. Perez is a very capable driver, with a strong personality and ten years of experience and he conquered great results with a middle-field team, so the Silver Arrow shivers in anticipation of what he may achieve with a top team like Red Bull.

“Definitely, I think Red Bull, with Perez, will be a much stronger opponent in terms of the constructors' championship- Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff confessed to Austrian TV Channel ORF- "I reckon Sergio will be very strong. It will also be interesting to see how Perez holds up against Verstappen. It's a new opponent. "Otherwise, it's a season with the same cars as last year. I think Honda will really step on the gas to compete for the championship in their last year as a manufacturer. That's why it will be quite interesting."

Then, the conversation moved to a comparison between drivers. Wolff didn’t say much about the subject, stating that he prefers to talk about the facts, as it is impossible to make a comparison without watching them fight on the track with their actual single seaters.

“You can only judge the best if you let them race against each other, - the Austrian explained - We haven't seen that yet. We haven't seen Verstappen against Hamilton, we haven't seen Russell against Hamilton, we haven't seen [Charles] Leclerc in a top car. But the future belongs to the young. At some point they will race against each other with the same equipment and then we will see who is the best.”

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/18675/f1-mercedes-never-threatened-hamilton-with-the-russell-card