Max Verstappen disobeyed team orders when they ordered him in Brazil to allow Sergio Perez through because he was harbouring resentment.
Red Bull is experiencing an unanticipated spike in tension after Max Verstappen refused to let teammate Sergio Perez through during the final lap of the Brazil Grand Prix despite being instructed to do so.
Perez needed every point he could get as he competes against Charles Leclerc for the second place position in the drivers’ standings. This means that Verstappen’s defiance has had massive implications because Perez and Leclerc will now enter the final event of the campaign on even points.
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The 25-year-old driver said during interviews after the race and on his team radio that he had made his opinions on backing his teammate extremely clear to them earlier this season and that they should be well aware of his justifications for not letting Perez through.
It is now believed that Verstappen reportedly harbours resentment toward Perez since Perez crashed in Q3 before he could do his final flying lap in Monaco earlier this season, depriving Verstappen of a chance at pole position, which at that track typically results in victory.
The red flag was thrown out after the Mexican driver, who had been in provisional pole position, spun his car as he neared Portier and was subsequently struck by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
The other participants in the session did not have enough time to launch a fast lap attempt to overtake Perez when the session resumed since there was not much time left in the session.
There have been reports that Perez has subsequently told Red Bull and Christian Horner that he intentionally caused the crash because he knew it would give him pole position. If correct, this would be a smart but unsportsmanlike choice on Perez’s part.
According to the onboard video, Perez hits the accelerator as he begins to exit the turn, causing the car to spin out swiftly, similar to how a driver typically corrects himself after approaching a run-off area.
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After the session, Perez was questioned about the situation and he was keen to point out that the incident was caused by a loss of grip rather than deliberate conduct. He said: “I was, I think, quite close to my time, trying to make it up, turn 8 has been a difficult one for me throughout the qualifying session.”
“So I was trying to anticipate and get quite early on the throttle. But as soon as I touched the throttle, I could feel like the rear tyre was not gripping in. And I was playing with it a bit until I lost it.”
Verstappen obviously thinks Perez intentionally set off the red flag since he was so adamantly opposed to aiding his teammate in his struggle with Leclerc, despite everything the 32-year-old had previously done to assist him.
