After two races in 2023, it seems almost certain that this year’s fight for the world championship will be between two drivers only – Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. At Jeddah, Perez won from pole – but arguably only because Verstappen’s driveshaft failed in qualifying. “Obviously what happened to Max was in the back of my mind and I’m sure the back of the mind of the team as well,” he said. “The whole feeling in the team, everyone is happy,” said world champion Verstappen. “Imagine now that Perez wins two more races and Verstappen retires – a gearbox fails and he gets a penalty for the next one,” said the Frenchman.

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