Max Verstappen was unapologetic about defying team orders and not letting teammate Sergio Perez past him in the dying moments of Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix.
Perez is locked in a tight battle with Charles Leclerc for the runners-up spot in the championship going into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
And Verstappen’s decision to reject a direct order from his team to give up sixth place to Perez means the Mexican is level on 290 points with Leclerc ahead of the 2022 season finale.
“I gave my reasons,” said the two-time world champion following a team debrief. “I’m not going to say why but I think they understood, and I’ve explained it to them before so it’s not new to me and not new to them. I understand why he is disappointed but they also have to understand why I did it and I gave them the reasons why.”
There was conjecture the reason dated back to the Monaco Grand Prix when a crash involving Perez denied Verstappen the opportunity to take pole position, with suggestions Perez had crashed on purpose.
Asked if the events of Monaco six months earlier had been behind his own actions in Interlagos, Verstappen said: “You can decide that. I’m not going to say.
“I gave my reasons why I didn’t do it and I think everyone understood it. It was good that we finally all sat together and I think we are professional enough to move forward. We are not babies.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he would not divulge details of the discussions that had taken place within the team in the wake of Brazil.
But he reminded Verstappen that the joint goal of the team this coming weekend was to guide Perez to second on the championship.
“We got into Abu Dhabi as a team to do the very best we can for Checo to achieve that second place and Max will fully support that,” he said. “They have shaken hands and we are absolutely focused on that next race.
“We work as a team, we race as a team and our objective and our priority is to see if we can get Checo to finish runner-up in the championship.
“It is something we have never achieved as a team before and Max has given his commitment that we will be doing the best we can in Abu Dhabi to achieve that. It is a straight fight between Checo and Charles and, if Max can help in any way, he will do.”
