Since Max Verstappen didn’t want to give Sergio Perez his sixth place finish in Brazil, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has promised that they would do all in their power to give Perez a good enough finish in Abu Dhabi to move him up to second place in the championship.
After Perez’s seventh-place result in Brazil and Charles Leclerc’s fourth-place showing for Ferrari, the two drivers are now tied in points for second place. Perez tried to pass Fernando Alonso for fifth, but he was unable to do it on medium tyres and had to settle for sixth place towards the conclusion of the race. After an unsuccessful effort to pass the Alpine, Verstappen was asked to return the location but refused.
Christian Horner
After the race, Horner commented, “We debate these topics internally.” Undoubtedly, the drivers have discussed it between themselves. This is quite clear. For us, Checo and Charles are now tied in points; Ferrari didn’t modify the positions of their vehicles. And we go into Abu Dhabi as a unit to do all we can for Checo to get that second position, and Max will be totally behind us in that effort.
The drivers have talked it over and exchanged handshakes, and we are totally committed to the upcoming race, he said. “I believe as a team we will try our absolute best to support that, to accomplish it in Abu Dhabi. Checo has done a wonderful job all year and he deserves that second spot.”
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After the first Safety Car restart, Horner said, “I thought the punishment was severe” in reference to the five-second time penalty given to Verstappen for his collision with Lewis Hamilton. In my opinion, Lewis might have given Max a little more space to work with as they were both going into the left-hand turn. Thus, I thought Max’s five-second [penalty] was excessive. In the best case, it was a racing accident.
Horner expressed more concern at Red Bull’s lack of speed in Brazil, when the team might have won the Grand Prix for the tenth time in a row. Sunday’s Sao Paulo OKBET Grand Prix was Mercedes’ first victory of the season, and George Russell not only won the Sprint, but he also finished first in the race.
“I believe the greater question will be… why were we missing the pace today or this weekend,” Horner said. “But what matters is that it’s dealt with, that everything’s discussed at the highest levels of the squad, and that we can go on as a unit.
You know, Mercedes has really come a long way in the last several months. George deserves a round of applause for his first win, as he has performed well throughout the competition this weekend. Even more so than yesterday, today’s performances in Sector 2 were impressive. Obviously, next weekend we’ll be firing on all cylinders, but we need to figure out why we squandered that performance in that area first.
This weekend, November 18-20, Abu Dhabi will host the Formula One season finale, with Red Bull having already secured the 2022 driver’s and constructor’s titles.
