Sergio Perez thinks the dominance of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen will be under threat from Lewis Hamilton and co at this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix.
Despite starting 14th on the grid in Belgium last weekend, Verstappen simply seared through the pack ahead of him, taking the chequered flag comfortably from his Mexican partner in second. It extended the Dutchman's lead in the F1 standings to a huge 93 points, with Perez second.
It means a second consecutive title is basically a formality for the 24-year-old. And he's widely expected to set the pace again at Circuit Zandvoort, having won his home race for the first time in 2021.
By contrast, Mercedes endured a torrid time in Spa, struggling for pace in both practice and qualifying. Hamilton did start fourth on the grid due to drivers ahead of him being sanctioned for excess power unit changes, but his race ended on the first lap after he collided with Fernando Alonso.
George Russell did finish fifth, while Ferrari were marred by another day of strategic blunders. They did however finish third [ Charles Leclerc ] and fourth [Carlos Sainz] respectively - despite Leclerc's race being seemingly plagued by a 'Mario Kart' manoeuvre from Verstappen.
But despite his team's impressive showing, Perez sounded a note of caution immediately after the race: "Yeah, well, I think they got the car was certainly the fastest today. And especially Max was very impressive.
"The whole weekend, especially come the race, he was just on another level today. So that’s great to have, but I think it’s very track specific. I think when we are back to Zandvoort we will have the Ferraris and Mercedes back into contention."
To add to the occasion this week, Verstappen will wear a specially designed helmet as a tribute to dad, Jos. He took to Twitter this week to post a video with the wording: "It's another special helmet reveal time.
"As you can see here, I have one of my dad's old helmets here next to me, and of course the Dutch Grand Prix is coming up and I thought this year would be a great time to appreciate all the efforts my dad made for me when I was a little kid, to bring me where I am today - winning the World Championship."
