Verstappen has dominated Perez at Red Bull this season, leading the world championship by 125 points.
However, his relationship with the Mexican has been a rocky one since they first teamed up in 2021.
After a fairly positive debut campaign together, Verstappen is understood to have grown irate last season, especially after qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix when Perez took third a provisional third place then was involved in an accident to prevent the Dutchman from beating it from behind in fourth.
Later on in the campaign, Verstappen infamously failed to let Perez past in the Brazilian Grand Prix in a bid to help him secure second in the championship – telling the Red Bull team that he had his reasons.
Verstappen is like Messi
Turrini has now claimed in his blog that Verstappen’s domination over Perez was like famous footballer Lionel Messi over an opposition player Leandro Paredes.
The reference is that Paredes wound up his Argentine compatriot so badly in a Champions League game, that Messi’s temper reached boiling point, with Paredes stating: “He became really angry. He f****d me up. It was bad. He wanted to kill me and I wanted to go home.”
Turrini referenced the clash, saying: “Verstappen is to Perez what Messi is to the former Juventus player Paredes.”
There’s no dispute that Verstappen will go down in F1 history as one of the greats. Not only because of his consistent results that are breaking records, but because of his God-given talent and relentless focus on winning.
In his blog, Turrini continued: “Verstappen is an absolute phenomenon. To deny it is foolish.
“Everyone can have the ideas he wants about the character, but if one argues Max as a driver, well, he’s an expert.”
With one final compliment aimed at the driver who is on course to becoming the 2023 world champion, Turrini said:
“Verstappen is definitely stronger than [Sergio] Perez – as well as almost all of his competitors in the present.”
