Red Bull boss Christian Horner was left battling to rescue his team’s unity and reputation after an acrimonious end to the Brazilian Grand Prix saw their drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in conflict.
It’s a scenario Red Bull has faced before some nine years ago, when Sebastian Vettel made a move against Australian Mark Webber at the Malaysian Grand Prix – but this is arguably much worse, and will only ensure Verstappen’s negative reputation does not improve.
A testy Verstappen, who has already secured his second successive world title, refused to reveal his reasons for disobeying team orders while Perez, who was stunned by his teammate’s surly behaviour, said he (Verstappen) had “showed who he really is.”
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Perez, whose exceptional defensive driving in the final laps of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix helped Verstappen beat seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to take his first drivers’ title, said he was confused by the dispute.
“I don’t understand what his reaction was. If he has two championships, it is thanks to me,” he said.
Horner called the pair together for a meeting to patch up their relationship after Verstappen refused to obey a team order to allow Perez to pass him for sixth place on the closing laps.
Red Bull wanted to support the Mexican’s bid to finish ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ title race – but they are now level on 290 points with one race to go and the Monegasque ahead on race wins.
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Verstappen’s blunt refusal, broadcast on team radio, shocked Red Bull as the team struggled to their worst result since the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
“I told you already last time,” he said, responding to his race engineer. “You guys don’t ask that again to me, OK? Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it.”
The row between the champion team’s drivers left many paddock observers intrigued as Horner and Red Bull refused to explain Verstappen’s grievance.
“As a team, we discuss these things internally,” said Horner. “The drivers discussed it, they were very clear.
“We will go to Abu Dhabi to get ‘Checo’ the second place and Max will support that. We won’t talk about what happens internally but the drivers shook hands on it.
“We work as a team. We race as a team and our priority is to help Checo get second in the championship. We will do the best we can to achieve that and if Max can help in any way he will do.”
The moment had echoes of the infamous ‘Multi 21′ controversy between then-three time champion Vettel and Webber.
In that race in Malaysia, the Australian led the German with the pair comfortably ahead of the two Mercedes drivers behind, and late in the race they were given the message ‘Multi 21’ – that the No.2 car (Webber) must remain ahead of the No.1 car (Vettel).
Yet Vettel rejected this order, passing his teammate with 13 laps left.
“It wasn’t always beneficial to us to race hard against each other because that was too hard on the tyres and in Malaysia we had had that very discussion beforehand,” Webber wrote in his autobiography.
“I knew within two laps that Seb was going to take matters into his own hands despite the reassurance over the radio that the race was mine. I started defending, but as a result of our respective qualifying runs he had new tyres and I didn’t.
“My attempt in Q2 was too conservative so I did an extra lap: that meant I was on a three-lap- old set while Seb’s were brand-new. Maybe he felt he should be able to use those tyres to the best effect rather than be told to back off?
“Whatever his thinking was, when he overtook me I wasn’t so much angry as very sad that the team had reached this sorry state.”
Horner later said the incident was revenge on Vettel’s part for the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, when Webber squeezed Vettel towards the pitwall and soon triggered the German spinning out during the title-deciding race.
That is another echo seen in the Verstappen-Perez incident. On Sunday night, a journalist from the respected Amsterdam-based De Telegraaf, the Netherlands’ biggest-selling daily reported that Verstappen’s refusal was payback to Perez for costing him a chance to win the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year.
The Mexican driver allegedly crashed deliberately in qualifying to cause a red flag stoppage that ended the session when he was third ahead of the Dutchman, it reported.
Perez then went on to win the race on Sunday and, according to the report, later confirmed to team officials that he had crashed on purpose.
Reporter Erik van Haren also posted on Twitter supporting comments made by pundit Tom Coronel on ViaPlay, which broadcasts F1 in the Netherlands, alleging Perez had admitted he crashed deliberately in Monaco to Horner and team consultant Helmut Marko. “Max Verstappen has not forgotten that,” he was quoted saying.
However as The Race’s Scott Mitchell-Malm explained, the Webber-Vettel situation was at least for a race win. Verstappen had nothing to gain, given he has already locked up the world title.
“Based on what Verstappen said after the race, he considers him and Perez even. Verstappen says that if Perez needs his help in Abu Dhabi this coming weekend, then Verstappen will oblige. Red Bull has also made it clear that it expects this,” Mitchell-Malm wrote.
“Case closed? Well, first, let’s see if Verstappen actually does help if needed.
“But beyond that, there’s an unnecessary threat to an otherwise very effective Red Bull dynamic as a result of this.
“It was a short-sighted move from Verstappen because it’s clear that Perez has had his faith in the team and his teammate shaken.”
He added: “(Verstappen) will get away with it in the sense that he is the centre of the Red Bull universe and generally what is good for him is good for the team.”
F1 commentator Will Buxton blasted Verstappen for his actions.
“Red Bull has never had a 1-2 in the drivers championship. That’s now their stated aim,” Buxton tweeted.
“His refusal to help them in that desire yesterday showed petulance and a sad and selfish short sighted spitefulness. He’s not the complete racer yet. Nor the talisman they need. Much to learn.”
Yet not everyone was against Verstappen, as (perhaps unsurprisingly) the Dutch TV broadcasters backed their man.
“He clearly said: you shouldn’t ask me that, in the conversation they had earlier then. That’s just in the nature of the beast. Then you can say Perez helped him in Abu Dhabi, minister of defence. That’s a second driver doing his job and this is just the team leader,” former F1 driver Robert Doornbos said on Ziggo Sport.
Veteran motorsport commentator Olav Mol responded: “They asked him something they already knew the answer to. Then you go and ask it again and you get publicly: I’m not doing that.”
TV presenter Jack Plooij went as far as saying: “If this is true, it is also very mean of the team. They know he doesn’t do it, and then they go and ask it anyway.”
