OKBET WEBSITE : Max Verstappen said that he had “reasons” for not giving up a spot to teammate Sergio Perez late in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, but said he still had no regrets about his attempted pass of Lewis Hamilton.
After an early Safety Car restart, Verstappen made a move on Hamilton for P2 but the two drivers got into it in the midst of the Senna Esses, forcing the Dutchman to stop for repairs.
While Verstappen asked over the radio where he should position his vehicle, the stewards deemed the Red Bull driver to be at fault and penalized him five seconds, making an already difficult comeback more more so.
The stewards decided that Verstappen, despite asking over the radio where he should park his Red Bull, was at fault and penalized him five seconds, making his already difficult recovery task more more so.
“I gained five seconds on him and he lost the race.” For my race, it wouldn’t have made a bit of difference either, since we were just too sluggish. I really believed we’d make a good racing team, but it’s obvious that speeding was never the goal.
Verstappen on Hamilton
As the race neared its conclusion, Red Bull instructed Verstappen that he could overtake Perez, who was having trouble on medium tyres, and make a move on the cars ahead of him. Verstappen had climbed from P17 to P7.
However, the incumbent twice world champion refused to hand up the position to Perez, who is in a tight battle for P2 in the drivers’ standings with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, after explaining his reasoning in post-race interviews.
That’s why I went to meet with the team before coming here. We laid out all of our justifications, and I offered mine. I won’t explain why I believe they got it, but I think they did. They knew what I was talking about since I had discussed it to them previously,” Verstappen stated.
The fact that we sat together as a group and were able to lay all our cards on the table and discuss our next steps is crucial, I believe, for us as a team moving forward. In Abu Dhabi, we will want to win the race, but I will also do everything I can to assist Checo if the opportunity arises, which is why this meeting is so timely.
When asked whether it had anything to do with the fact that Perez ended the Monaco Grand Prix weekend’s Q3 with a crash, Verstappen stated, “You can determine that; I’m not going to say it.” He went on to clarify that he understood his team mate’s irritation, but that he had his own reasons.
After debating the matter between themselves, Perez promised to “keep working together as a team” in light of the fact that he had been left to lament his late-race collapse on tougher tyres while his competitors had passed him on softs.
“It was a major letdown. After the Safety Car, things became much worse. We were like passengers on the wrong tires. I was quite disheartened since I was unable to warm up the tire and could see that they were slipping by. Now we’re off to Abu Dhabi, which he said, “I’m very excited about.”
