Jos Verstappen says that Sergio Perez knows that as Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull, his chances of winning are few and far between, so when an opportunity arises the Mexican “goes for it”.

Perez conquered his fifth career win in F1 in Jeddah, the 33-year-old executing a flawless race from start to finish at the tricky high-speed street circuit venue.

However, there’s no disputing that Perez’s successful evening was facilitated by Verstappen’s absence at the front of the field during the first half of the race, with the Dutchman playing catch-up due to his lowly start from 15th.

But once Verstappen established himself in second position, he was unable to bridge the five-second gap to Perez. Verstappen senior says the Mexican was spurred on by the challenge of keeping ahead and ultimately defeating his son.

“Of course, we all want to win. But that wasn’t on the cards today, the margin was too small for that,” Jos Verstappen told Formule1.nl.

“[Perez] doesn’t get the chance that often, I think. He sees that too and then goes for it.”

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Jos believes the race would have been very different had his son been spared a driveshaft failure on his Red Bull in qualifying.

“It was now disappointing for us in qualifying,” he commented. “Pure bad luck, I won’t go into that. We know what it is.

“But otherwise, Max just drives easily to that pole position. And then the race is a bit easier.

“Because we actually predicted: it is quite difficult to move forward here. This is a circuit with long corners, it’s hard to make a difference there. We need to have tougher tracks and more corners.”

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Jos Verstappen naturally agrees with the consensus in the paddock that Red Bull is off to a enjoy a dominant 2023 campaign.

“It looks like we’re going to be dominant,” he said. “We have a very good car.

“If you saw how easily they drove away now: a second faster. Can the rest of that be made up this year? I don’t know. But it’s not like we’re standing still, is it? We also come with updates.”

As for Verstappen’s final lap blast to secure the bonus point for fastest lap, despite Red Bull’s reservation, his son’s attempt was a foregone conclusion according to Jos.

“I just knew he was going to do it,” he said; “Nice, isn’t it? At least that way he remains the leader in the championship.”

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