At the final race of the season, Sergio Perez was the perfect team mate to Max Verstappen.
Sergio PerezBeat team mate in qualifying1/21Beat team mate in race1/18Races finished20/22Laps spent ahead of team mate95/1100Qualifying margin+0.44sPoints190
Not merely because he gave Red Bull’s title contender an ideal tow in qualifying or repelled rival Lewis Hamilton for two laps in the race, but because he had the pace to play that vital role at the sharp end of the field. But that hadn’t been the case often enough over the course of the season until that point, which is why he narrowly misses a place in the top 10 of our rankings.
After Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon’s swift ejections in previous seasons from the second Red Bull seat alongside Verstappen (is there any harder gig in motor racing?) no one could be in doubt about the scale of the challenge Perez faced. Given that, his failure to progress beyond Q2 first time out in Bahrain prompted immediate concern.
But on the whole…