Perez insists Red Bull will let him fight Verstappen for F1 title 

The Red Bull pair head into this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix separated by just six points in the drivers’ standings following Perez’s victory last time out in Azerbaijan. 

Verstappen and Perez have two wins apiece from the opening four rounds and the Mexican feels he is getting the same treatment as the two-time world champion. 

“I think we’ve been treated equally,” Perez told Sky in Miami. 

“I’ve had as much opportunity as Max, especially now at the start of the season where we are both fighting. 

“The team is letting us fight and they’ve shown when we are fighting like in Jeddah, or Baku, they let us race. 

“For Red Bull the easiest thing would be to put team orders on lap 20 and save the cars. 

“I don’t know how many times we hit the walls in Baku, where things could have gone wrong for any of us. 

“I think Red Bull is showing how a team should behave in these situations.”

After his win in Baku, Perez said he believed he would have been leading the world championship instead of Verstappen had it not been for a troubled weekend in Australia. 

A crash in Q3 forced Perez into a recovery drive to fifth from the very back of the grid, while Verstappen went on to claim victory in Melbourne. 

But Perez is keen to move on from the events of Melbourne as he looks to assert himself as a true title challenger by winning back-to-back F1 races for the first time in his career. 

“I think what happened in Melbourne was a combination of factors that went wrong and we shouldn’t have those issues,” he explained. 

“It’s time for me to move on from Melbourne. Still it’s in the back of my mind but now I have to get rid of it and focus on Miami and the challenges ahead.”