Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen
There seems to be more than what meets the eye as the feud between Max Verstappen and Perez continues to make headlines
The feud between Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen doesn’t seem to end even one week after the Brazilian GP. The Red Bull duo got into an ugly feud after Verstappen disobeyed team orders and refused to let Perez past him. Red Bull have clinched both the drivers’ and Constructors’ championship title this season, but experts believe that this incident shows that not everything is fine within the team.
Experts including former F1 driver Christian Albers believe that there is a personal issue between both drivers and the feud is just not limited to the track. In a recent interview, Albers said: “Between Verstappen and Perez there is something personal. I understand that Verstappen may have his reasons and his principles, but a driver of his caliber should not behave like that. He had the chance to make his contribution to the team’s double in the classification and he made his choice.”
The feud was ignited during the last few laps of the Brazilian GP last weekend. With only a handful of laps left to go at the Brazilian GP, Verstappen was allowed to overtake Perez to overtake Fernando Alonso and Leclerc ahead, to take points away from the Ferrari driver. He was also categorically told that if on the final lap he had made no progress, he was to give the original position back to Perez so that the Mexican could get more points. However, Verstappen blatantly refused team orders.
Verstappen’s engineer said “Max, let Checo through please” and then asked after the race had ended “Max, what happened?” “I told you already last time, you guys don’t ask that again to me, OK?” an angry Verstappen responded. “Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it”, the reigning World Champion added.
Sergio Perez was evidently frustrated at how things turned out. “Thank you for that guys, thank you. It shows who he really is”, Perez said sarcastically after the race.
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