There has been recent tension between the pair in recent months, stemming back to Peওrez’s shunt during Monaco qualifying.

In Brazil, it transpired that Perez had crashed deliberately - something which irked Verstappen and explained why the Dutchman didn’t assist him in his pursuit for second in the championship against 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Charles Leclerc.

During the second race of F1 2023, Verstappen nicked th🍌e fastest lap off Perez on the final lap in Saudi Arabia, leaving 🐬the Mexican perplexed afterwards.

Perez has now opened 🍬u🐼p on his relationship with Verstappen.

"To 🦋be honest, we have a𓄧 lot more respect for each other than people might think out there," he said.

"There is a great atmosphere with the team, there is a very high level of respect between ea💧ch other in the team with all the engineers from their side and my side. 

"I think we are both mature enough to know what's right and what's wrong. Asꦍ long as that keeps being the case, and I don't expect anythi🌞ng to change.”

With Red Bull enjoy🐠ing a dominant start to the year, naturally Perez is Ve🔯rstappen’s main challenger for the title.

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Perez conceded that Verstappen is “definitely the hardest driver to beat” in F1ꦅ.

"Not only Jeddah b♎ut already in Bahrain, we were in very small margins, in qualifying and in the race."

He continued: "There is no doubt that there is no🌳 driver on such a form as there is Max, and so together with the team with the car he's definitely the hardest driver to beat," he said. 

"So it will require the maximum amount from me to bring my A game at ev♋ery single weekend."