F1 News: Jos Verstappen slams Perez’s father over comments

(GMM) Jos Verstappen (pictured) has hit back after Sergio Perez’s father credited his own son for Max Verstappen’s title successes at Red Bull.

Perez, 35, will return to Formula 1 next year with Cadillac after sitting out 2025 following his ousting from Red Bull Racing. But his outspoken father, Antonio Perez Garibay reignited the debate about Perez’s four-year stint alongside Verstappen.

“Checo drove for Red Bull for four years. How many years did Red Bull hold the championship? Four years,” Perez senior reportedly told Mexican media.

“Checo Perez made Verstappen the champion. If Checo had had the same car, he would now be the world champion. Red Bull needed him.”

Perez Snr even referred to Lewis Hamilton as an “eight-time world champion” – a pointed reference to the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi finale between Hamilton and Verstappen.

When Dutch magazine Formule 1 published the comments on social media, Jos Verstappen could not resist weighing in with a reply in his native tongue.

“What an idiot that guy is,” the 53-year-old former F1 driver, now Max’s co-manager, wrote.

“He was always given the same equipment. He just needed to step on the gas.”