Formula 1: Max Verstappen vs Checo Pérez, the war that shakes the placid season of Red Bull

Before the start of the World Cup Formula 1, Red Bull appeared as the top candidate for the title. But there was also the feeling that the only drawback the Austrian team could face lay in the relationship between its drivers. After two tests, this was confirmed, because the rivalry of Max Verstappen AND Sergius Czech perez It’s the only thing shaking up the placid season of the reigning world champions, absolute rulers after the victories of the Dutchman in Bahrain and the Mexican in Saudi Arabia.

Despite going 1-2 (in a different order) in the first tests of the season, it wasn’t easy racing for the drivers’ track engineers, Gianpiero Lambiase AND Hugh Birdespecially for the former, who has the difficult task of giving orders to the two-time world champion.

In Bahrain, Verstappen disobeyed a request to ease tension and maintain a lower pace to deal with the RB19 power unit in a GP that the Dutchman dominated to his heart’s content.

In via Jeddah, the radio communications were even more intense and without success for Lambiase, who was unable to convince the Dutchman to maintain a pre-established pace and not to try take out Czech the quick ridewhich he finally caught up in the final corner to end the weekend as championship leader with that one point lead over his teammate.

A few days before the start of the first Grand Prix on the Sahkir circuit, Checo Pérez anticipated: “It is important to always work as a team and If I see that I don’t get support when I need it, I won’t give it either.“. Could you therefore change your attitude towards the race in Australia, which will take place on Sunday 2 April in Melbourne after what happened in Jeddah? The mystery is already open.

Running at more than 300km/h without knowing what’s happening to my teammate

Sergio Perez: “Do we get the fast lap at the end or…?”
Hugh Bird: “Eeeh. They took it in the last lap.”
sp: “Oh great”.
HB extension: “Enjoy the victory”.

Czech Pérez crossed the checkered flag at the Saudi Arabian GP unaware that Verstappen had taken away the extra point for the fastest lap. But he felt that his teammate had done it, disobeying the team’s order to slow down.

For this reason, having arrived in the room where the three best riders meet before getting on the podium, the Mexican asked the Dutchman: “Didn’t they ask you to keep up, not to push?”. “Ah, 33.0, yes. But then I asked what the fastest lap was and I thought about it.”he replied, emphatically and without question.

The order to “shoot to 33.0” was an indication that Lambiase gave him five times in a row against Verstappen after overtaking Fernando Alonso and placing second in a impressive comeback after starting 15th. But what the engineer got in return was a four-tenths faster time on the pitlane screen.

On lap 43 Lambiase spoke again on the radio with the two-time reigning champion: “Max, can you aim for 33:0, please?”. Not only did he not get an answer, but moments later Verstappen asked: “What’s the fastest lap?”. “This doesn’t worry us at the moment”, they clarified, without mentioning Checo’s name and his time of 1:32.188 set on lap 38. I wanted to know: “32.1, 32.1”.

What happened is known: a record of 1:31.906 on the last lap which Pérez was unable to prevent despite the fact that between 43 and 45 they told him he could push and also that he had the best time.

From the “Czech has given up” to “typical of Max”, the official explanations of Red Bull

With radio communications between the drivers and their engineers available in near real time, the feuding between the Red Bull men continued in the press conference room.

“I think the communication wasn’t the same with me and Max, they told me I had the fastest lap and I had to keep a pace“, Pérez slipped. “You have to listen to the team and trust. They have more information than me, but I think after this it’s something the team needs to rethink because if the team gives you an instruction and in the end you don’t comply with it, I think it’s not ideal“, He added.

Verstappen, on the other hand, gave a completely different position: “We had to keep up with our pace. I asked, I asked for a fastest lap and they gave me the benchmark lap“.

Who, without a doubt, warmed up the atmosphere the most in the dialogue with the journalists were the visible faces of the team: the boss Christian Hornerwho also congratulated his champion after setting the fastest lap, and the adviser Mark Helmut.

“If (Verstappen) goes for it, he goes for it. I think he had already come to that conclusion himself. Both drivers had the information. Checo had the fastest lap at that point, he asked who had it, so it was obviously because I asked. He knew Max would have a chance and Checo gave up after the first few corners.. She was already down by a tenth and a half, and then it was seen that she was going out of the loop, ”the foreman analyzed.

“Typical Max on the last lap with the fastest lap in the race. It was uncontrollable, it’s just MaxMark replied. “Both were constantly asking who had the fastest lap and Max obviously had to wait a moment until the end so that Perez could no longer fight back. It means championship leadership for him,” said the former Austrian driver.

The background: Pérez’s crash in Monaco and Max’s response in Brazil

Last year, when Verstappen was still fighting head to head with Charles Leclerc, The Czech involuntarily prevented the Dutchman from snatching pole position from the Monegasque in qualifying for the Monaco GP when he crashed his Red Bull into the wall in the turn before the tunnel sector.

Though he’s never confirmed it, for the 25-year-old racer it was a deliberate act of his teammate and which prompted him a few months later, during the Brazilian GP, ​​to refuse to give Checo his position in that personal dispute for second place with Leclerc.

“We already talked about it before the race and I already told you, don’t ask me again”Verstappen responded when Lambiase told him that if he didn’t pass Alonso at turn 12, he would let Checo Pérez pass. Then, in front of the media, he added: “I have my reasons for things that have happened in the past”.

The man from Guadalajara, who in the radio conversation with the team said that his partner had introduced herself “who is he really”he was blunt in his statements after the race: “If you have two World Cups, it’s thanks to me. I don’t understand the reasons for what happened with Max, but I also have no information to comment on.”

It seems there are still sparks from the flame that was lit in November and could be rekindled anytime this season.