Sergio Perez drops cheeky response after F1 title slips away from Max Verstappen

Sergio Perez has posted a cheeky message on social media after Max Verstappen missed out on the 2025 F1 world title.

Lando Norris was crowned the 2025 F1 world champion after a tense title decider in Abu Dhabi.

While Verstappen won the race, it wasn’t enough for him to claim a fifth championship.

Unsurprisingly, Verstappen decided not to back up the McLaren pair into the pack.

This gave both Oscar Piastri and Norris a relatively straightforward race, running ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Norris closed in on Yuki Tsunoda after making his first pit stop.

However, he dispatched Tsunoda immediately with the use of DRS.

In hindsight, Tsunoda could have lifted off in the final sector, costing Norris crucial time to Leclerc behind.

Instead, Tsunoda didn’t lift and gave Norris a run at him with DRS.

While Tsunoda defended aggressively, it wasn’t enough to keep Norris behind.

Red Bull perhaps missed Perez, who they dropped at the end of last season for Liam Lawson.

Perez’s cheeky reply

Watching the race, Perez dropped a funny reply to a post by ‘F1 Troll’ on X.

The account posted a meme of Marvel villain Thanos with Perez’s face edited onto it, reading his iconic line: “Perhaps I treated you too harshly.”

Perez quote-tweeted the post, writing: “Perhaps”, accompanied by a laughing emoji.

The Mexican, who will return to the grid in 2026 with Cadillac, played a key role in Verstappen’s 2021 title win.

Verstappen was battling Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 crown in Abu Dhabi.

Perez, who had yet to make his final pit stop, backed Hamilton up and defended beautifully from the seven-time world champion.

Perez’s defensive tactics cost Hamilton significant time.

This proved crucial because if Hamilton’s advantage over Verstappen had been greater, he could have made a free pit stop and would likely have had a much better chance of staying ahead after the controversial late Safety Car period.

Perez also cost Hamilton a better result in Turkey with similarly impressive defensive driving.