The final laps of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the fastest lap bonus point remain an issue on which the two Red Bull drivers have differing perceptions. Both downplayed the tensions that could be heard on the pit radio before the race weekend in Melbourne. But Sergio Perez evaluates the discussions very differently than his teammate Max Verstappen.
For the Mexican it was just “a bit of miscommunication between my race engineer and me. I don’t think there’s more to it than that. I think the team did the right thing to let us drive freely. And that was good.”
Less good from his point of view: that team boss Christian Horner claimed to media representatives after the race that Perez, like Verstappen, had tried to set the fastest lap, but had stopped this attempt.
This assertion did not stand up to an initial fact check by ‘Motorsport-Total.com’. Now Perez, specifically asked about Horner’s statement, says: “No, I didn’t.” And when asked if he had spoken to Horner about it since then: “No, I spoke to my engineers, and everything was clear there.”
“I also had a short chat with Christian after the race,” Perez admits. But behind it is “no big deal. You journalists just make your stories out of it if we don’t race freely. But I think everything is good in a team.”
What is being said now and what was on TV…
That sounded different immediately after the race in Saudi Arabia. A very cynically formulated pit radio and also a situation in the podium room, where Perez was not even noticed by Verstappen, but Verstappen welcomed Fernando Alonso as a “buddy” and shook his hand that the house blessing at Red Bull is wrong.
Later, a scene shown on TV was also taken in some places as evidence of a dispute between Verstappen and Perez, in which you could see Max’s father Jos Verstappen standing in the middle of the Red Bull mechanics when Perez got out of the car, and everyone around him cheered exuberantly, only he himself didn’t even congratulate Perez.
The scene was later put into perspective when other TV footage emerged showing Verstappen Sr. Congratulations to Perez on the win. But either way: Verstappen junior. cannot see anything unusual in his father’s indifference.
Verstappen: “My father is my biggest fan”
“Ultimately we have to look at ourselves and not at what the Twitter community thinks,” he dismisses. “Of course my father is my biggest fan. I don’t like to lose and my father doesn’t like to lose either. That’s how he grew up. But of course they always show the pictures that fit into this overall picture.”
“For me it was like this: ‘Checo’ gets out of the car, celebrates with his mechanics. Quite normal. The father of another driver isn’t one of them. That’s why he didn’t push himself in. I think it’s quite normal, even if it is other people seem to see things differently. But that’s okay. Everyone should see what they want.”
Verstappen contradicts Perez: “No miscommunication”
For Verstappen, unlike Perez, the hotly debated pit radio was “not a miscommunication. Exactly the same question was asked in Bahrain, just from him. From my point of view, there is no need to talk about it again. And it has after the race no more explanations given by the team.”
Perez now concedes that target lap times were discussed, but at no time was there a binding agreement that the fastest lap was no longer allowed to be attacked. Ultimately, he says, “it was probably just a misunderstanding with my engineer that I may have misunderstood.”
“In retrospect, I regret not having set the fastest lap,” Perez admits that, in his subjective perception, a target lap time was agreed. “At the same time, it’s not like they specifically said one thing to me and another to Max. It was up to us to just do it.”
“On the one hand, it’s important that we unpack our ‘A-Game’ every race when we’re fighting for the World Championship and give it our all. On the other hand, it’s also important that we respect each other and, above all, that we respect what the team does says. It’s only the third race. There’s still a long way to go.”
Perez believes: I have the same chances as Verstappen in the team
Verstappen currently leads with 44 points Drivers’ Championship on, one point ahead of Perez (because of the fastest race lap in Jeddah). First pursuer is Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) in 3rd place, with 30 points. Due to Red Bull’s superiority, quite a few experts believe that it could ultimately lead to an internal Red Bull duel for the world title.
But Red Bull is a Verstappen team, many observers are convinced. Do you think you still have a realistic chance of beating him, Sergio? “I absolutely believe in that,” replies the 33-year-old. “When I joined the team, it was completely different. Back then, they still raced with two cars because they also had a second car.”
“Today I can say that I really feel part of the team and that I’ve found my place. I’m respected. That’s a nice feeling for a racer. And I really believe that I have the same support as Max and that I have the have the same chances as him of winning the World Cup,” said Perez.
This is supported by the fact that Horner, after the race in Saudi Arabia, responded with a frown to a journalist’s question as to why they hadn’t simply given a stable order per Verstappen and swapped places, and asked the counter-question why something like this should be done so early in the season .
Perez: Situation presented worse than it really is
“I’m here to do my best,” says Perez. “And to be honest, I think that we drivers respect each other a lot more than it is sometimes shown from the outside. The atmosphere in the team when the doors are closed is great and characterized by respect. That also applies to the respective engineering teams.”
“We’re mature enough and know exactly what’s right and what’s not. And I think as long as that’s still the case, I don’t expect anything to change within the team,” Perez wipes away concerns that Red Bull Verstappen on the way to the world title, if in doubt, would be more supportive than him.
However, Verstappen does not seem to expect Perez to become a serious opponent for him in 2023. When asked whether Perez could pose a threat to him, Verstappen dodged without giving a specific answer: “The positive thing is that our car is competitive from the start of the season. That’s the only thing I need to become world champion .”
Other co-authors: Filip Cleeren. With images from Motorsport Images.
