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Ex-Red Bull driver Christian Klien believes that the Miami Grand Prix victory was the moment that Max Verstappen \u2018broke\u2019 Sergio Perez\u2019s mentality. The Mexican had won two of the opening four Grands Prix, announcing himself as a title contender in the process, but failed to win again in 18 attempts before the end of the 2023 season.<\/p>\n
After winning in Jeddah and Baku, Perez capitalised on a red flag caused by Charles Leclerc to clinch pole position for the Miami GP, while Verstappen was left down in ninth place. Despite starting so far down the order, the three-time world champion had risen to second by lap 15 and snatched the race win from his team-mate on lap 48.<\/p>\n
Speaking to RacingNews365 about the team-mate battle in 2023, Klein said: \u201cMax was tremendously good and consistent. But it wasn\u2019t all a piece of cake for him. Look at qualifying in Monaco, where he certainly didn\u2019t have the fastest car.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the second half of the season, the other teams were closer to him, especially in qualifying. He showed every time that he was on top of it and made the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive F1 news.<\/strong><\/p>\n Don’t miss… <\/strong> Red Bull and Mercedes alerted to driver that left Christian Horner with \u2018regret'[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n The Austrian driver then turned his attention to Perez, adding: \u201cEvery high level of sport is a mental game as well. I would say Max is definitely one with the car and with the team. It feels like pressure is not getting into his head at all.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the difference to Checo. He had a very good start to the season and maybe he had in his mind, \u2018OK, maybe this year I can beat Max or at least on the same level\u2019. But I think Miami was already the turning point where he realised, \u2018OK the guy on the other side of the garage is really unbeatable\u2019.<\/p>\n More F1… <\/strong>
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