During the Miami Grand Prix, former F1 driver Anthony Davidson raised concerns about Red Bull’s communication with its two drivers, suggesting that Sergio Perez was at a disadvantage in his battle against Max Verstappen and “driving blind.”
Despite starting from pole position, Perez’s different tyre strategy and pit stop timings meant that Verstappen overtook him to take the lead and win the race, extending his lead in the Drivers’ Championship by 14 points.
Davidson described Red Bull’s lack of communication with Perez during the race as “really strange.”
The Sky Sports commentator said: “It’s been really strange listening to Perez’s radio. They haven’t told him anything about this fight between himself and Max Verstappen.
“Whereas on Verstappen’s side of the garage, it’s been constant.
“We’ve heard it coming through, that constant check on how the relative race gap is between him and his team-mate.
“Perez has been out there, in a way, driving blind. It’s been very odd. A bit too quiet on his radio.”
Christian Horner, on the other hand, has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that both drivers were kept fully informed at all times.
He said as per FoxSports.com: “They both knew the gap, the 20 seconds for the pit stop. The gap was 19.8 and Checo had that for four or five laps, so he knows that number.
“He’s looking obviously at what the gap then is to Max on a lap-by-lap basis, which he got every lap. He then just had to take one number from the other and he knew exactly where Max was.”
As for Perez, there was no suggestion from the 33-year-old that Sunday’s result was down to anything but Verstappen’s superior pace on the day.
“I really wanted the win; it would have meant a lot to me, but it’s about not giving up,” he said. “It’s a long season ahead and we’ve got to keep pushing and hopefully [there will be] many more good moments for all of us coming.
“Obviously today Max deserved the victory because he was the fastest car out there. Really early on, I saw that the medium was very fragile initially, so I had to protect the tyre quite a lot.
“I could see that Max was closing up on the hards and from that point on, I knew that the race was looking difficult. And then when I went to the hard, Max had very strong pace so we didn’t manage to open a gap, he simply came too close to us.”
