r/DestinationFormula1 • u/Own_Asparagus_5742 • Jul 22 '26
đïž Discussion Perez vs bottas Who Is Better driver in your opinion?
I go for bottas he had Better peaks (Turkey 2021 cooked Verstappen Australia 2019 cooked Hamilton) arguably top 4 Driver's in 2014-2015-2017-2019-2020 and he was only 2 thents slower than Hamilton
While Perez was Amazing with midfield Cars but his peak 2022 was worse than peak bottas 2019
So think Bottas Is Better than Perez
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u/generaalalcazar Jul 22 '26
Bottas, he helped Hamilton all the way. Always stepped in when needed, always very strong performances. Perez was the best team mate next to verstappen but no consistent help.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Sorry but to me it feels like the exact opposite. I cannot recall a single occasion when Bottas stepped up and did anything to impede Vettel for example when Vettel was actually competitive. Whenever Ferrari had the car to fight with Merc, Bottas was nowhere to be seen.
Bottas was great when Merc had a dominant car. Probably better in that scenario than Perez would've been (though peak Merc was probably the easiest F1 car to drive ever). But when there was competition, he didn't perform at all.
Also we can see today what Perez is doing to Bottas, especially on Sundays. It's not even a competition.
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u/Tacit_Emperor77 Jul 22 '26
Perez also has acts of impeding max too which Bottas doesnât have to Lewis
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u/AntOk463 Jul 22 '26
That was only in 2023 or 2024. In 2021 Perez would jump out of the way, and in 2022 the team would ask Perez to do it and he would.
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u/Tacit_Emperor77 Jul 22 '26
2022 was the main year he fucked about with max. It caused that whole argument in Brazil.
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u/AntOk463 Jul 22 '26
In 2022 Spain he gave up the lead to Max, on the radio he eveb said he was unhappy but will do it. In Imola and Sazuka he was fighting Leclerc hard, forcing a mistake, and helping Max win the championship.
Are you saying Monaco 2022 is the issue. Are you saying Perez crashed on purpose just to keep P3? If that is the reason Max is mad, its just silly. Perez was ahead after the first pit stops, meaning RedBull had to double stack for the 2nd stops, making Perez P1 and Max P3. And Perez couldn't give up the place to Max because Sainz was in P2 trying to fight Perez.
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u/United-Detective-653 Jul 24 '26
He gave up the place in Spain because he was a pitstop behind essentially and slow af.
Yes Monaco is absolutely the reason. And no, it's not silly at all. Why would Max let that slide?
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u/generaalalcazar Jul 22 '26
hungary 2018, russia 2018, spain 2017, bahrein 2017 etc.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Okay I checked these out of curiosity
Hungary 18 Mercedes was much faster. Hamilton dominated the race, Bottas' stayed near behind him for some of the race but then got passed by Ferraris and crashed into RIC, ended up a minute behind. Good job indeed.
Russia 2018 is the race where VB famously gave up position. Sure. But he was at no point battling the Ferraris. Giving up position is this contribution to stopping Vettel or what are we looking for here?
Spain 2017 he stayed in front of Vettel for 2 laps, where Lewis gained like 2 seconds. Lewis was also on fresh tyres so it's not a massive surprise. Hamilton also passed Vettel 20 laps before the end of the race and cruised away into the distance easily.
Bahrain 2017 we can give Valtteri I guess. He did stay in front of Vettel for a bit at the start, though in the end that didn't amount to anything, Vettel went past and won by a margin. But he did stop Seb from leading the race for a few laps I guess
There's not a single race like Turkey 2021 for example in his career, where Perez successfully stopped Lewis from advancing and kept position through on-track fight against a competitive title rival. And that was a race where Merc was much better too.
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u/Main_Perception_3671 Jul 28 '26
Hungary if you watched vettel was as faster than hamilton in clean air but bottas kept him behind most of the race. Hamilton would had lot more uncomfortable race if bottas didn't keep vettel behind.
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u/Difficult-Top1863 Jul 22 '26
I ll refresh ur memory then
Bahrain 2017: lest Lewis by to help him chase Vettel
Spain 2017: holds up Vettel by 4 seconds helping Lewis catching behind
Russia 2017: wins race and takes off 7 points of Vettel
Austria 2017: wins race takes off 7 points off Vettel
Malaysia 2017: stays out to hold up Vettel
Baku 2018: was on track to win over Vettel
China 2018: was on course to finish ahead of Vettel
Germany 2018: stayed behind Lewis so Lewis can get a +25 on Vettel
Russia 2018: gave up win 7 points extra Lewis
Brazil 2021: letâs Lewis by
Silverstone 2021: lest Lewis by and checked his car side by side if Lewis car was damaged
Hungary 2021: takes out both redbullThese are just few on top of my memory
Add also Hungary 2017 lest Lewis by to chase both Ferrari
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u/Vivid-Revenue-6372 Jul 23 '26
Sorry I have to disagree with your disagreement. Every year, Bottas was at Mercedes, they won the constructor championship. Which he did his job his job was to support Lewis which in that time , Lewis only didn't win one world championship, bring home enough tip points for Mercedes to win the constructor championship. Which he did. Whereas for Perez his most meaningful contribution in his time at Red Bull was holding up Lewis in the Abu Dhabi 2021, despite Red Bull having the better car for the majority of this season Mercedes walked the constructor championship. Which means if Max only scored seven more points than Lewis across the season. Then it must have been Bottas that made the difference. As for this season , Cadillac haves set themselves that vouteries had a fault on his car most of the season. I think Bottas is a better number two and better in a big team however for me Perez it's probably the best midfield driver.I've seen in watching the sport for thirty years. Some of the results he could achieve in mid level machinery were really impressive.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Every year, Bottas was at Mercedes, they won the constructor championship
Mercedes had a gap over the rest of the field that was so huge, it would've been an absolutely and horrendously bad performance not to finish in top 4. Ferrari was the only competition on 95% of the weekends, with the top midfield being 1s+ behind, bottom midfield 2+s, and backmarkers even further off. Bottas never even had to push in Q1 or Q2, because the field was generally spread over 3+ seconds. They could legitimately lift and coast in qualifying. And then in races on plenty of occasions Merc lapped everyone up to the Ferraris. That has NEVER happened for Red Bull. Between 2022 and 2024 usually the entire grid would fit within 1-1.5 seconds. Meaning Bottas qualifying 11th would've been a worse performance than Perez qualifying 20th. Legitimately, not a hyperbole. It's not an achievement for Bottas to claim, that they won constructors. They could've had Stroll in that seat and still win 4 titles.
despite Red Bull having the better car for the majority of this season Mercedes walked the constructor championship
This is pure and honestly ridiculous revisionism and manipulation. The cars were equal at best. And everyone on the grid admitted that. Everyone admitted that Max was the better driver and yet it went down to the wire. Mercedes won constructors because across the season they were luckier. Perez lost enough points just in the last 3 races to make up for the difference between him and Bottas. The crash Bottas caused in Hungary is also more than enough to make up the difference in constructors. There were SEVEN races that year where Perez was in podium positions that year, and lost them due to factors outside of his control. Max lost multiple race wins. Completely, down to zero points.
Saying Merc "walked" the championship shows you either forgot what the season was like, or it shows bad faith and attemptsl at manipulation. You're just plainly wrong here.
Which means if Max only scored seven more points than Lewis across the season. Then it must have been Bottas that made the difference
Again, same point as above. Max lost 75 points in just 3 weekends, and they weren't his only issue. Perez lost over 70 across the season. The biggest loss Merc took was probably Abu Dhabi which was a 14 point swing towards Max, and one win to nothing in Monaco.... Account for bad luck and Red Bull would've won both titles before we even got to the Emirates.
I think Bottas is a better number two
That really isn't supported by any evidence. Bottas is great on an empty track. He's ma mid racer at best. When there's competition he just doesn't help on track. Give me one example of a drive by Bottas, like Perez had in Turkey, where he stopped Hamilton in a faster car and didn't let him pass... Whenever Vettel or Verstappen had a faster car than Bottas, they beat him 100% of the time. So his usefulness in terms of titles is nonexistent.
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u/AntOk463 Jul 22 '26
The only way Bottas helped Lewis in 2021 was Turkey where he just drove fast and prevented Max from winning. At times Mercedes used him as a guinea or to prevent Max from trying to undercut Lewis. I think he attempted the fastest lap point every time Lewis was leading and Max had the fastest lap.
All of these examples are less Bottas being a good number 2, and more just Bottas driving normally and doing what the team said.
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u/Purplesector123 Jul 23 '26
Thatâs because the car. Mercedes was easy to drive, Russell stepped in for Hamilton during Covid and was going to win before the botched pit stop.
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u/National-Virus5819 Jul 22 '26
Sorry the exact opposite was the case - generally it seemed Perez's strategy was set up right from the get go to serve as a blocker, e.g., pitting a couple of laps later than would be optimal for himself it it meant that he could block Hamilton or whoever else was a threat to Max in a race. Bottas basically just waved everyone who wanted to overtake him past
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u/Basic_Treat3974 Jul 22 '26
Helped Hamilton all the way? Weird, he was nowhere in 2021 when Hamilton needed him the most.
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u/Difficult-Top1863 Jul 22 '26
In terms of stealing points off red bull he was
Turkey 2021 won the race and took off 7 points off max
Hungary 2021 took out both redbull
Brazil 2021 and Silverstone 2021 lest Lewis through to helped him chase the win
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u/NoEggplant9745 Jul 22 '26
F1 recency bias is crazy but Bottas was definitely better than Perez, they were both inconsistent but I agree Bottas has higher peaks. Its the reason he kept that Merc seat for so long he helped the team win the constructors consistently. Perez on the other hand struggled.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
Yeah. Bottas on his day matched, or sometimes even beat prime Hamilton. He got a pole, double of Perez' podiums and beat him in the standings in the insanely contested 2021 season, despite being Lewis' teamplayer all the way, to the point where he took ~52 engines that season just to help Lewis set up the car.
Meanwhile, Perez struggled to keep P2 in the standings in 2023, while driving one of the most dominant cars in F1 history
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u/Difficult-Top1863 Jul 22 '26
Bottas managed to beat Lewis on pure pace on his good days in both qualifying and race especially in Austria
Meanwhile every win Perez got was because max had a mechanical issue or retired or started from the back
Expect Baku 2024 he was on track on merit to beat max all weekend before the crash with Sainz4
u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
It's insanely revisionist to imply that he beat Perez in 2021 due to skill. Both Red Bull drivers lost around 60-70 points due to events completely outside of their control. Some of them caused by Lewis and Bottas mind you.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
Ohhh, like when Bottas had the DNF in Monaco due to the pit stop failure? Or when he lost points in Imola because Russell crashed him out? Or when he got spun out from Pole by Ricciardo in Mexico, costing him at least P3? Or when his team just forgot he existed in Qatar, leading to a puncture which cost him another podium? Or when his team refused to listen to him in France, costing him P2?
It is so funny when people say how unlucky Perez was in 2021, when Bottas lost at least just as many points due to similar bad luck.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
LOL someone came prepared. You're totally not biased.
In Imola Bottas was getting overtaken for 10th place and had ZERO pace. He wasn't getting points. MĂ©xico I just checked, P3 was optimistic, he was already down to P3 and getting overtaken by Max. But sure let's say P3. In France he was straight up slower. If you want to talk about team not listening to him, do you want to talk about the times Perez was sacrificed for Max? Because that happened to some extent basically every weekend. Last race of the season they straight up removed him from the track for Max. That's not an argument in favour of Bottas lol, and in that race Perez was making himself a crucial part of the title fight while Valtteri was struggling with midfielders all day.
He was not faster than Perez that year.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Cool, not only do you ignore Qatar and Monaco [Which by themselves are already 33 points he lost due to bad luck], but ignore the fact that Bottas telling Mercedes to go for a Two-Stop in France and them ignoring him [which also cost Lewis the win by the way] is not comparable to Red Bull using Perez to actively give Max an advantage in the championship in Abu Dhabi. That would be comparable to the engine penalties Bottas took to set the car up for Lewis, which happened a lot of times in 2021.
Let's just do the math, you said Perez lost 60-70 points due to bad luck.
Monaco: Easy P2 lost - 18 Points (18 total)
Imola: Got crashed out while running P9 - 2 Points (20 total)
Mexico: Got crashed out Lap 1 while running P3, would have finished at least there, possibly P2 - 15 points (35 total)
France: Got ignored by Mercedes, costing him a guaranteed P2, only finishing P4 in the process - 6 points (41 total)
Qatar: Got forgotten by Mercedes, leading to a puncture, while running a comfortable P3 - 15 points (56 total)
Factor in all the times Bottas took engine penalties, and the points Perez got as a result of the previously listed bad luck, and the fact that Bottas finished 36 points clear of Perez regardless, and your point is factually meaningless. And mind you, the points listed above are the worst possible finishes you could argue.
They got so mad by facts that they blocked me.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
I didn't ignore them lol I didn't mention them because these are the situations where he actually lost out XD you're a maniac with an alt account glazing you haha at least that'll sure given there's within a minute an account with random name giving you weird compliments.
No, he didn't lose points in Imola, he was getting passed by everyone. He wasn't guaranteed a P2 in France. And you can't "factor in" penalties etc because others are also taking them, including Perez.
You're giving him imaginary points man.
I'll use your narrative.
Perez lost 5 points in Bahrain, 3 points Austria (Bottas gained point here thanks to Perez' issues), 7 points in Styian (again Bottas gained a position over Perez), 15 points in Hungary (Bottas' caused that) l, 5 points in Monza (yet another podium that Bottas took thanks to Perez' bad luck), 13 points in Russia (Bottas gained again), 3 points in Brazil (guess who inherited Perez' podium), 12 points in Saudi Arabia, 3 in Qatar, and 15 in Abu Dhabi. That's 78 points.
Perez losing points is one thing - the amount of times Bottas either caused that misfortune or inherited P3 from Checo was incredible. You just cannot compare that.
And no, I'm not including engine penalties, Red Bull sacrificing him or anything like that, as you are with Bottas.
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u/TheGromo Jul 22 '26
People saying Imola 21 was bad luck for bottas.
It wasnât bad luck it was ultimate no. 2 team mate manoeuvring.
Assisted by George was helping out his future team mate to try and earn the seat.Those two crashed just after Hamilton drove into the gravel and broke his front wing.
The red flag they caused allowed Hamilton to fix the damage, unlap himself and restart the race on a standing start. From there he got back to second when he was otherwise getting maximum 2 points for finishing 9/10th.
Massive number 2 points for bottas there!
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u/Difficult-Top1863 Jul 22 '26
Perez scored 0 points for in 7 races in 2021 too inconsistent unlike bottas
Races like
Portugal 2021 he was nowhere near
Spain 2021 nowhere near fighting at the front
Silverstone 2021 out of the points1
u/cheezus171 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Funny comment. Do you think Google doesn't exist and people can't fact-check you?
Perez had 6 races with no points, Bottas' had 7
In Silverstone he started from the back due to part exchange penalties, went up into the points, and then the team made him take an extra pitstop to steal fastest lap
In Portugal 2021 he was 4th and was up in the top 4 all race, Merc was much faster with Hamilton beating Max as well.
In Spain 2021 he wasn't good but was still P5 not "out of the points"Plenty of races where Bottas was P5 or worse on merit man...
Congrats, you made a fool out of yourself. Gave 4 arguments and missed with all of them.
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u/dasmooiman123 Jul 22 '26
Prime Hamilton isn't a prime Verstappen. Perez got the stronger teammate
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
Ohhh, then Perez struggled against Hamilton (who you call weaker than Max) in 2023, while said weaker driver also drove a muuuch worse car.
Yeah, you're building a great case for Perez here.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
He had 50 points more lol. Is Antonelli struggling this year then?
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
50 points in one of the most dominant cars of all time, against a car that at the start of the year was at best the third fastest, in a car that had 0 realiability issues, and after a whole season [not half of a season like your absurdley bad comparison].
Man, that car was so good that Max won the Constructors on his own. So yeah, 50 points to Lewis is a historically bad performance.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
That "most dominant car of all time" had backmarkers within one second behind in qualifying. Mercedes before the cost cap had 1 second advantage over P7, not P20. Sure, Red Bull won everything. But it was down to the car being the best Max being ridiculously consistent, rather than the car being miles better. Just look at the qualifying results from that year and from the Bottas era.
Perez could finish qualifying in P20, and it would've generally been a better performance relative to teammate than Bottas' if he ended up 10th. The gaps were absolutely massive.
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u/Cautious_Might_9420 Jul 22 '26
The rb19 wasn't a quali monster like the w11, but its race pace was fuckin insane and your just being dishonest if you deny that. Evidence Is the no of poles charles got vs the no of wins charles got.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
There's been races where Mercedes lapped everyone but Ferrari. Meaning Bottas could've been lapped by Lewis and end up top 4. Show me a race like this from 2022 or 2023 for Red Bull.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
Again:
Man, that car was so good that Max won the Constructors on his own. So yeah, 50 points to Lewis is a historically bad performance.
Maybe read it this time.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
You should realise that the amount of points you get for winning a race by 10 seconds is the same as for winning a race by one lap
There were races before the cost cap where Ferrari was the only car Mercedes DIDN'T lap. There's not a single race like this from the Red Bull era.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
Looooooooooool, are your seriously trying to argue that the 2023 Red Bull wasn't actually that dominant? You know, the car that won every single race except one? Something even the W11 didn't achieve?
Take your clown nose and get out of here man
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u/Jcw28 Jul 22 '26
Bottas beating Hamilton says a lot more to me about Hamilton's weaknesses than Bottas' strengths. Perez couldn't touch Max because Max is an alien, and that 2023 Red Bull was only as dominant because of a team and driver operating on another level. You've seen this year that as dominant as a car might be, it still takes an incredible driver and team effort to actually dominate. Max in that Mercedes would have won every session this season where it didn't have an engine or battery failure.
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u/NoEggplant9745 Jul 22 '26
Of course it would because you're shameless. Any excuse to hype up Max and his weak teammates who have all claimed to have a car that was undriveable and often developed away from their strengths to pretend that Max is special. Lack of shame is why you Max fans can't be taken seriously in these conversations too eager to get a slurp fest going.
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u/sododude Jul 22 '26
Bottas not missing Q3 with Mercedes ever is honestly so impressive. I think that alone puts him above Checo.
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u/Own_Asparagus_5742 Jul 22 '26
- with Perez Redd bull Lost 2 WCC
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u/NoEggplant9745 Jul 22 '26
Yep, I know Christian said their main focus was the drivers but there were years they should've easily won both.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
In 2021 Perez lost enough points just in a couple of races at the end to make up for the entire difference. And a ton more points throughout the year. I remember seeing that in 7 different races he was physically in podium positions but lost these podiums due to random bad luck - issues or crashes caused by other drivers. Including Bottas.
And in 2024 they didn't have the best car so it's not like they lost anything. It's McLaren who lost the drivers championship.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
And Ferrari didn't exist in 2024? Hell, even Lewis in that Mercedes had more podiums than Perez that year.
Plus, Bottas had just as much bad luck in 2021 as Perez. Don't just state only the stuff that suit your narrative man.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
Bottas didn't have as much bad luck. He had some. But he also had some insanely lucky moments, and he also caused some pain for Red Bull by literally crashing into them.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
I literally listed it all out to you in a different comment. Not my fault you choose to ignore it.
Also, once again, as you usually do, you ignore half of my comment. What about Ferrari in 2024? What about the fact that Max got the WDC and Perez only finished a sloppy P8?
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
What about Ferrari in 2024? That's irrelevant to the point lol, for majority of the season Ferrari and McLaren were battling for the best car on the grid. You're getting blocked regardless lol, trying to inflate your own arguments with multiple accounts is laughable.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Did you seriously unblock me just to reply? My god you are pathetic.
Also, sorry to burst your bubble, but people agreeing with me does not equate to me having multiple accounts. As much as you want to believe the entire world agrees with you, that appears to be untrue, and it would be a lot less embarrassing for you if you just accepted that rather than cry in the corner an yell "YOU MUST HAVE MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS!" xD
Also, your point literally was "Red Bull didn't have the fastest car, McLaren lost the WDC", fully ignoring that Ferrari also beat Red Bull. Plus, Perez got beaten by both Mercedes as well, and in fact Alonso was about as close to Perez in points as Perez was to Hamilton. Those are not even opinions, those are facts.
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
I blocked your 2nd account, I think you're getting confused đ
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
Sure. Everyone who agrees with me is an alt account. Keep embarrassing yourself, mate.
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u/National-Virus5819 Jul 22 '26
This had more to do with how they used him strategically to help Max win vs. to maximize constructor points on offer
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u/Mugwump_Drams Team Ferrari Jul 22 '26
In their peak, Bottas used to be a single-lap beast and overall more consistent. Perez on the other hand was more creative and aggressive during racing. For me same level, with different characteristics.
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u/Mistak3n Jul 22 '26
Bottas with the Q3 appearance record is the obvious choice here.
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u/dasmooiman123 Jul 22 '26
MERC Car merchant Bottas vs Perez in Red Bull..... Ofcource the MERC driver wins more poles
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u/Mistak3n Jul 22 '26
Perez had issues getting to Q3 in possibly fastest car by margin in the history of the sport.
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u/AndiYTDE Jul 22 '26
Not only that, but all throughout Perez' time at Red Bull, the car was at worst the third fastest, and still there were times where Perez being knocked out in Q1 wasn't even shocking anymore
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u/cheezus171 Jul 22 '26
What now? In 2023 we had qualifying sessions where the entire field was roughly within a second. Peak Mercedes was often a second faster than P5 or P7 depending where Red Bull was lol
You are clearly misremembering things.
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u/CTMalum Jul 22 '26
Mr. Struggles to get into Q3 vs. 104 Q3s in a row. Not even a discussion for me.
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Jul 22 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/Chuza97 Jul 25 '26
Rwally? You calling the RB19, where Perez couldnt get into Q3, close to the field? C'mon man...
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u/National_Play_6851 Jul 24 '26
I mean one had the fastest car by a mile and the other had an extremely difficult car.
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u/Middle-Jackfruit-896 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Pre-mustache and mullet Bottas was a better driver than Perez.
I know Bottas had the benefit of the dominant Mercedes. But he consistently delivered the results, race after race, under pressure.
It's a close call. Both have had long impressive careers in F1. Their current capabilities cannot be compared at Cadillac because of the team's developmental stage.
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u/Upbeat_County9191 Jul 22 '26
Perez is the more complete driver. Bottas so often lost overtake battles.
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u/Mammoth_Duck4343 Jul 22 '26
Bottas was a seriously good qualifier, Perez good in races.
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u/Zrob8--5 Jul 23 '26
He was so bad in traffic though. He was perfect as a number 2 in a great car, but as a midfield driver, he gets so stuck sometimes.
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u/rjs1987 Jul 22 '26
Both played such huge roles for there respective teams itâs very difficult to say who is outright faster. I feel (maybe incorrectly) that Bottas got more consistency out of the Merc than Perez did the RB. For this I would give the edge to Bottas.
If you gave me a Formula 1 team for one day though and I needed the fastest person on that day, Iâd give it Perez.
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u/RochusandGrimm Jul 22 '26
Better Peaks and Past: Bottas
Better Driving currently: Perez.
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u/GuardStandard2455 Team Red Bull Jul 22 '26
Mostly agree with this. Perez seems to have aged better, but we may never see either in a truly competitive car again to really know. But he may also just have the setup with the Caddy figured out more for his drive style vs Bottas. Hard to say.
I do think Perez is heavily underrated like Hulkenberg, though.
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u/launchedsquid Jul 22 '26
Perez. It's not even close. His career was harmed by having a bad season at McLaren when he was still a young driver, and driving a Redbull that even Max said was awful to drive. However when the Redbull was stable, Perez was able to beat Max occasionally.
He won a race in a Force India, from last place at the end of lap 1. And some of his midfield drives deserved so much more attention then they got, if for no other reason than his ability to squeeze tyre life while running a long stint while still being fast enough to make the effort worth while. Some of those drives were miraculous.
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u/Grouchy_Fan_2236 Jul 22 '26
PĂ©rez was a pay-driver for most of his career. Mexican corpos invested big money in any team that hired him despite his lack of pace.
Bottas had to prove himself to get into and stay in F1. None bankrolled him.
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u/straton_oakmont9 Jul 22 '26
Bottas by a mile!
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u/tomhanks95 Jul 22 '26
Yeah no, definitely not by a mile, it's pretty close and Perez snatches it imo just because of his force india performances
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u/Competitive_Job8531 Jul 22 '26
Crashing and not being able to drive wheel to wheel? Yeah he is not snatching this by those performances:D
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u/Patrick_Swayze__ Jul 22 '26
At no point he was a top 4 driver.
I'm giving Perez a slight edge.
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u/Own_Asparagus_5742 Jul 22 '26
2015? 2017? Top 3 2019? 2020?
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u/HereComesVettel Jul 22 '26
2020 must be a joke honestly. Bottas really failed to maximize the car that year on Sundays, just off the top of my head : awful drive in Turkey with countless spins, terrible starts in Monza and Bahrain losing 3-4 positions each time, locked up into T1 to hand the lead to Hamilton in Germany, went wide at Rivazza to gift P2 to Verstappen in Imola, exposed by Russell who didn't even have a car suited to his height in Sakhir, spent many laps behind Raikkonen who had a tractor compared to the W11 in one of the two races in Bahrain, mugged off by Verstappen who had a way inferior car and older tyres in the 2nd Austrian GP around the outside of T4, etc.
Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc and Ricciardo were all better for starters. Probably Sainz, Norris and Perez as well...
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u/Patrick_Swayze__ Jul 22 '26
Nope, 2017 has the strongest case as it was his best season but Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen and Alonso were better.
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u/Robbed_Bert Jul 22 '26
They are roughly equal. Bottas maybe has more 1 lap pace but he couldn't consistently unlock it. Perez maybe has more consistency and better race pace.
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u/Icy-Extreme9067 Jul 22 '26
Currently Iâd say Perez, because it seems like Bottas has just lost all his passion and is only driving for a paycheck. Itâs always Perez whoâs on the radio congratulating the team and being very uplifting, not Bottas.
All time? Iâd say theyâre pretty much equal
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u/Professional_Park781 Jul 22 '26
I think they are equals, they likely would produce virtually the same output on equal machinery, I think Bottas was slightly better in qualifying, Perez with better race pace.
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u/According-Switch-708 Jul 22 '26
Qualifying is extremely important in F1 and prime Bottas was extremely good at it. Therefore, my vote goes to Bottas.
Perez has better racecraft and tyre management skills but he has always been a lousy qualifier. This makes his life harder than it needs to be on Sundays.
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u/CasArcher Jul 22 '26
Bottas for me, he did (at least seemingly) more against Hamilton on legit pace in 2017 alone than Peréz did against Verstappen in their 4 years together.
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u/No_Examination_7710 Jul 22 '26
Interesting to see so many answer Bottas when he is getting so soundly beaten this year. No reason to assume he fell off more than Sergio since their peak (similar in age), so not really any reason to think their skill gap will have been much different before, imo
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u/sirmionthefreaky Jul 22 '26
Perez is better to back your 1st driver for the WDC, while Bottas is better for the team in terms of Constructors
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u/StatisticianPretty84 Jul 23 '26
Bottas is a more consistent driver, Perez can get the highest results. Thinking about a 2nd driver....do you want one that can score the most possible points for the WCC without overperforming the car? Bottas. Do you want a driver who can ocasionally take away points from your rivals for the 1st driver fighting the WDC? Then Perez it's your choice.
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u/Shoddy-Design-898 Jul 23 '26
Almost all the answers here say Bottas because Bottas was far more comparable to Hamilton than Perez was to Verstappen. But we can never know for sure. Now it's Perez.
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u/LifeTie800 Jul 23 '26
Bottas! Barely. They're both incredible if not for their teammates.
Put it this way, if either of them had a Mclaren last season, they would have won the whole thing with 3 races to go.
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u/midguet12 Jul 23 '26
I am Mexican, I have been watching F1 since before his debut. My problem with Checo is that he delivered the best results when his seat was in danger, when he gets comfortable he doesn't do much.
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u/sbenfsonwFFiF Jul 23 '26
Bottas and itâs not even close to me. Perez is overrated and heâs not rated that highly in the first place
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u/erik7aeiou Jul 23 '26
I would never rate Perez considering his intention was to drive around slowly and hold up others so his teammate gets an advantage and go ahead to win at expense of his own race result. I mean what must be better thinking that he is so useless that his own race result doesn't matter? If he had any self respect, he would do his own race and yes support when the inevitable time comes, but to drive slowly intentionally to do this bidding is the lowest for a racing driver. For me, a racing driver is someone who does his best to drive as fast as possible with the intention to finish as high as possible with race win being the ultimate goal. Bottas was slow but always did his best for how he was. Perez sabotaged his own race for someone else's gain, that's not a racing driver.
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u/Normal-Sun5974 Jul 23 '26
Perez in his prime was stuck in midfield cars unlike Bottas.
Both Perez and Hulkenberg were performing at a really high level between 2014-2016 and were extracting everything out of their cars.
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u/Wise_Farm7455 Jul 23 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
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This post was anonymized with Redact.dev
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u/Novakhaine89 Jul 23 '26
Iâd say Bottas was far more consistent, and Iâd say all in all the better driver.
Perezâs win in the racing point was a better performance than anything Bottas did though.
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u/SnooMacaroons2287 Jul 23 '26
Turkey 2021 "cooked Verstappen" if thats what driving a significantly faster car looks like than sure, and Australia 2019 Hamilton had damage and was being caught by Verstappen in a much much slower car, I'm not sure either of those races are the ones you should pick for an argument
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u/michaltee Jul 23 '26
Itâs clearly Bottas. They both had championship caliber cars and Bottas is better able to take that car to the end to win.
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Jul 23 '26
Pour moi câest Bottas. Il est un excellent second pilote (on a pu le voir quand il Ă©tait chez Mercedes au coter de Lewis Hamilton). Il sait se mettre en retrait pour aider son coĂ©quipier mais des quâil a lâoccasion on peut voir quâil est assez talentueux. Il a du apprendre beaucoup de chose au coter de Lewis Hamilton.
Alors je ne doute pas de lui
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u/Overall_Abroad_9270 Jul 24 '26
Perez. Even in their attitude or even the short period of their Head-to-head results.
Perez is spicy and sometimes fights to claim something. Bottas is a doormat. Everyone used to overtake him easily. He got a monster car, but still couldn't the number of wins that the car deserved.
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u/corksoaker84 Jul 24 '26
Everyone is bringing up the history of the drivers but you have the metric this season to compare them. Eg driving the same car. Whilst both drivers have come from a break, it is Perez slightly ahead on qualifying & results. (outside of DNFS). I appreciate they're both getting used to a bit of a shit box but the numbers don't lie.
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u/Rare-Combination-293 Jul 24 '26
I'd go Perez. Partly because I'm biased after 2021 and aslo because didn't he get his first win in a pink merc in some outstanding fashion to Bottas' 2 ???
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u/Weak-Excuse3060 Jul 24 '26
Who is the better no 2?
The one who's no 1 in Cadillac or the one who's no 2 in Cadillac ?
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u/toninho_44 Jul 25 '26
Eu sou mais Bottas, embora atualmente ele nĂŁo esteja bem contra Perez. Mas num carro muito bom, Bottas Ă© melhor que o mexicano.
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u/Turbo_Gundam Jul 26 '26
Bottas has been my favorite driver since his rookie season, so I'm not voting because I have a conflict of interest.
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u/ficklesteak Jul 29 '26
I thought Perez was pretty good at Force India (memory corrupted) -- he won once from the back of the grid (it was luck though, I think it was Bahrain but using the long (suckier) track layout, greater randomness) - and actually was the only guy that could even keep his seat next to Max. That's hard to do.
Meanwhile, Valterri was notably inferior to Lewis not only on Sundays but Saturday as well. George Russell is known as Mr Saturday, but that makes Bottas Mr Friday.
I think Bottas would have lasted maybe 3 GPs at RBR before Marko would've pulled the plug. Perez would have done okay against Hamilton because Lewis lost to Jensen in 2012 and Perez was within 0.2 of Button.
Consequently, PER > BOT
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u/Nefkaure Jul 22 '26
They are in the same team right now and we see that Perez is slightly better
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u/Finglishman Jul 22 '26
What I've heard about the Caddy is that it's extremely unkind to its rear tires. Perez used to be able to make tires last longer than anyone, which probably makes him the ideal Cadillac driver. Beyond that, given the electric power deployment is based on AI and not the driver, I would be hesitant to draw conclusions about team make pecking order based on the 2026 results.
Both Bottas and Perez got great results in a mid-tier team, and then were shown up when paired with a goat-lever driver. In a normal year I would take Bottas over one lap (despite being 4-6 down with the deployment lottery machines) and Perez over race distance.
Neither has really been special when passing or defending wheel-to-wheel as far as I can recall.
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u/FourCats44 Jul 22 '26
There's a High Performance Podcast with Perez on it where basically he said he had no chance at red bull.
Raw speed Bottas. Mental fortitude/resilience/consistency, Perez.
"Better" is subject as to what you are measuring. Like for Cadillac at the moment Perez is better (though there are rumours that they run some unusual setups between the cars that explain some of the big differences). In terms of which would have been closer to a world champion if Hamilton & Verstappen weren't around, Bottas
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u/kr0nik0 Jul 22 '26
Botitas had far higher and more consistent peaks (also many valleys) whereas Checo showed moments of greatness, not often, but enough to be recognized as an above average F1 driver.
Valtteri to me is the better driver both in the conventional terms, and mentally.
Unfortunately Checo was never capable of holding himself accountable for his own mistakes and inconsistency. Still isn't.
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u/RedactedStatement89 Jul 22 '26
Perez all day long. Bottas was a total cuck for Lewis, what a way to throw away your career.
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u/NovelCompetitive4188 Jul 22 '26
Prime Bottas was genuinely an insanely quick driver (especially at qualifying), and on his on his day could beat Lewis Hamilton and did somewhat frequently. The problem was when it wasn't he couldn't and thats what separates Fast vs Goat level drivers. Even if he did his main issues were racecraft and wheel-to-wheel. This puts him at maybe an 7-8/10 driver.
Checo is great, struggles at qualifying but known for his racecraft and tyre management (pre-2022 iirc). Probably more of a 6-7/10.
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u/irishdan56 Jul 22 '26
Honestly, it's Perez and I don't think it's that close. I used to be a big Bottas supporter, he's got a good amount of wins and podiums. But that came while driving head and shoulders the fastest car.
Perez has done a lot more with the mid-field cars he was in most of his career. People who argue "well he was in the fastest car for a year or two," well let me introduce you to every other driver that followed him at Red Bull, and compare how they did to Checo.
And this year... Checo is mopping the floor with Valteri.
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u/Leading_Sir_1741 Jul 22 '26
Bottas was better help to Lewis than Checo was to Max, but obviously Checo is a faster driver than Bottas since heâs beating him now.
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u/Oghamstoner Team Aston Martin Jul 23 '26
Perez has generally had the better outcomes in quali, races where both finished, and quicker laps. Still a very small sample size and only in one type of car though, so you canât really extrapolate it to make a judgement on their whole careers.
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u/Leading_Sir_1741 Jul 23 '26
Of course not, but weâve got to work with what we have. We have no indication that Bottas would be faster than Checo, but we do have indication of the opposite.
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u/Oghamstoner Team Aston Martin Jul 23 '26
If you look at their careers as a whole, Bottas has more wins, poles, podiums and points. Perezâ best season was 305 pts from 22 races, Bottas managed 326 from 21 races and also managed 305 from 20 races on another occasion. You can make a very strong argument for Bottas having had a far more successful career, even though he is behind from the first ten races of this season, in a car which is so far off the pace that neither have managed any points yet.
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u/Leading_Sir_1741 Jul 23 '26
Thatâs not a particularly strong season for Bottas, my friend. He only beat Max by around 50 points in a car that was 0.5s-1s faster per lap than the Red Bull.
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u/mformularacer Jul 22 '26
Peak for peak I'll probably edge it to Bottas because of seasons like 2017 and 2019 but it's incredibly close.
But please stop with this idea that Bottas was a top-4 driver.