Sergio Perez has been criticised for his role at the F1 Monaco GP, which may explain Max Verstappen ’s controversial decision in Brazil not to allow his team-mate to overtake him. The Mexican, along with many others, was left dumbfounded when the Dutchman refused to give up sixth place for him at the Interlagos circuit on Sunday.
The Dutchman’s decision was all the more perplexing given he has already sealed the drivers championship and Perez finishing second would cap a superb 1-2 finish for Red Bull in 2022. Post race, after being asked "what happened", Verstappen replied: "I told you already last summer, you guys don't ask that again to me. Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it."
The 25-year-old has been lambasted for refusing to assist his teammate, but former F1 driver turned analyst Jolyon Palmer has delved deeper into the incident in Monaco which may explain Verstappen’s frustration. Perez spun out in the third qualifying session at the Circuit de Monaco in May, causing a red flag and prevented Verstappen and his rivals from bettering their times as a result.
The Mexican started third on the grid ahead of Verstappen in fourth, and ultimately claimed race victory. Palmer describes Perez’s intent as 'fishy' due to his supposed lack of effort in preventing the red flag. “Actually, looking at it with more detail, I can see why it looks a little bit fishy for Verstappen,” Palmer told F1 TV.
“Checo comes in and there’s a big spike of throttle as he just plants the gas hard. But then also, interestingly, once he loses control of the car, there is no attempt to have a big opposite lock and try and save control. If you look at the steering wheel, he straightens it up but he never goes more than that, and he’s almost resigned straight away to his fate. The natural instinct of the driver is to just plant on the opposite lock and try and save the car.
“Not only does he jump on the gas, which seems to instigate the spin, he also is fairly resigned to his fate as soon as he does that.”
Over team radio in Brazil, a furious Perez told his engineers: "This shows who [Verstappen] really is." He later told reporters: “I don’t understand what his reaction was. I'm very surprised, I don't know what happened, especially for everything I've done for him. If he has two championships, it is thanks to me."
After the incident, Horner made it clear that Verstappen will play his part there in helping Perez should he need to. "We discuss these things internally, I’m not going to go into what we discuss behind closed doors,” Horner affirmed.
“The drivers have obviously spoken about it as well,” the Red Bull team principal continued. “They’re very, very clear. And for us, Checo is now tied on points with Charles, Ferrari didn’t switch their cars round. Now we go into Abu Dhabi as a team to do the very best that we can for Checo to achieve that second place and Max will fully support that.
“The drivers have discussed it, they’ve shaken hands and we’re absolutely focused on that next race. Checo has done a phenomenal job all year and he deserves that second place. And I think that as a team, we will do our very best to support that to achieve that in Abu Dhabi.”
