Verstappen made it three pole positions from three at the start of F1 2024 in Australia, but despite securing the lead off the line, a rear right brake issue which he had felt from the get-go soon became terminal, forcing the winner of the last nine grands prix into a very early retirement.
Red Bull had started the season with back-to-back 1-2 finishes, but Ferrari took the opportunity to open their victory account as Carlos Sainz led home a Ferrari 1-2 of their own ahead of Charles Leclerc.
And while Verstappen had been the clear pacesetter so far in F1 2024, Perez does not believe his team-mate in a fully fit Red Bull RB20 could have even stopped Ferrari at Albert Park.
Asked by Sky F1 whether Ferrari would still have won even without Verstappen’s DNF, Perez replied: “Absolutely, yes.”
Building further on his theory, Perez, who finished P5 and nearly a minute behind Sainz, said that managing the front tyres proved to be a major stumbling block on Grand Prix Sunday, as he claimed that McLaren were also a “step ahead”.
McLaren’s Lando Norris secured P3 to join the Ferrari drivers on the podium.
“We didn’t have the pace unfortunately,” Perez admitted.
“Early on we could see that Ferrari and McLaren were a step ahead of us. I think we just couldn’t get the balance in a window. There is some work to do for the coming races.
“It was a very unique tarmac and throughout the weekend we were not able to manage the best possible grip level.
“We didn’t have the pace throughout the weekend.
“We were struggling already on Friday and we never got on top of the management of tyres. I think we just have to understand and make sure we are able to improve.
“We already saw last year in a track like this, for example Vegas, Ferrari was a lot stronger than us, so we just couldn’t look after the front tyres.”
Interestingly, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko had a different view to Perez on Red Bull’s pace versus Ferrari, arguing that the race outcome would have been “completely different” had Verstappen not been forced to retire.
“I spoke to Max and he said that despite the problems, he kept up with Sainz’s pace relatively easily,” Marko told Sky Germany.
“With Max in the race, the outcome would have been completely different.”
Verstappen retained his lead of the Drivers’ Championship despite that DNF, though the battle at the top is now looking a lot closer, with Leclerc only four points behind and Perez one point further back.
Both Ferrari and McLaren drivers would end up ahead of Perez come the end of the race, and Horner reserved praise for race winner Carlos Sainz, who recovered from appendix surgery a fortnight ago to take victory at Albert Park.
“I mean, he’s probably not aware of it, but he picked up a bit of damage as soon as he passed or whilst he was passing Fernando,” Horner told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
“He lost a significant amount of downforce from the floor of the car, so we just need to get the car back to understand exactly what’s caused that.
“As soon as you get that, then your tyre deg gets worse and we were just not good at the end of the stints, which is a bit of an unusual trait for our cars, so we need to understand that.
“I have to congratulate Carlos Sainz today. I mean, after going through surgery, what a great performance by him and, of course, the Ferrari team today.”
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On the other side of the garage, Max Verstappen led off the line but found himself passed by Sainz on the second lap before having to retire, the right rear of his RB20 seeing a blowout on his way into the pit lane.
Expanding on the problem, Horner believes the three-time World Champion took his non-finish in decent spirits after his initial frustration.
“It’s a brake issue,” Horner said. “It looks like the brake is bound on pretty much from the start of the race and that’s why, as Max described, it was like having a handbrake, which caused him to have a couple of moments.
“Then of course, the heat’s building and building and building, and then the resultant fire [happened].
“So the car, obviously we’ve got all the bits back now and going through the damage, and we’ll go through and understand exactly what’s caused it.
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