Since the end of the 2022 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix, headlines have focused completely on Max Verstappen’s selfish and spiteful behaviour, as the Dutchman refused Red Bull F1 team orders to help Sergio Perez. Verstappen in fact went against the pit wall’s team order twice at the Interlagos circuit: first by overtaking his teammate and wingman Sergio Perez, then not giving him back the sixth position at the end of the Sao Paulo race. A result which would have helped the Mexican in the close battle for second place against Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, especially after the Austrian side publicly stated that a one-two finish in the Drivers’ standings is a major goal for them in this final part of the season.
“I already told you guys last time. Don’t ask me that kind of thing again, okay? Have I been clear enough? I gave my reasons and I stand by them.” – with this message via radio, Max Verstappen justified himself to Red Bull, as he passed the checkered flag ahead of his teammate. And therefore “revealing himself for who he is”, as Sergio Perez would put it.
According to the media, the two Red Bull drivers have not had a good relationship for quite a while. The cause for the disagreements there are not only the twos not granted by Sergio Perez to Max Verstappen in the qualifying sessions at Le Castellet and Monza, but above all the “Monte Carlo case”. In fact, as reported by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Sergio Perez would have deliberately caused the accident during Q3 in Monaco, causing the red flag and consequently ruining the lap of his Dutch colleague, who finished fourth just behind the Mexican (and later won the Monaco Grand Prix).
Sergio Perez’s Monaco 2022 telemetry from qualifying and the onboard comparison seems to confirm what Max Verstappen clearly implied after the Brazilian Grand Prix.
While the media have focused mainly on the internal Red Bull feud, there is a more important issue which seems to have been overlooked. This is a matter which should be thoroughly investigated by the FIA and which, if confirmed, should lead to a penalty for sports-fraud, at least for the driver if nothing else.
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There was huge uproar and penalties when Michael Schumacher supposedly ‘parked’ his car in Monaco 2006 qualifying. The Ferrari driver held provisional pole position, but was far from safe – Renault’s Fernando Alonso, the upstart who had taken three victories and three second places to gain a solid championship lead, was just 0.064s down the road after the pair’s first runs. The Spaniard was going significantly faster on his final run.
Michael Schumacher, ahead on the track, did not improve in the first to two sectors of his final flying lap. But the Renault driver never got to complete his lap, as Micahel Schumacher got it all wrong at Rascasse, locking his front right tyre, veering off line and then parking across the exit of the right hander, a final twist of the steering wheel keeping his Ferrari car out of the barriers. The yellow flags flew, and the rest of the field were not able to complete their last fast runs.
When questioned about the crash, Michael Schumacher explained that he “locked up the front and went wide. After the qualifying session in Monaco there was immediate complaint from the other teams that this was a deliberate move by Ferrari to make sure Michael Schumacher would started from P1, which is particularly important on the streets of Monte Carlo. Despite the fact that the German driver insisted he had simply made a mistake, a stewards’ inquiry resulted in all his qualifying times being deleted. Later on, Michael Schumacher opted to start from the pitlane and on Sunday had one of his best performances owing to the immense difficulty to overtake in Monaco, which did not stop him from overtaking at least 11 cars on the narrow track.
In short, more trouble for Red Bull, first Cashgate now Crashgate. Issues that demonstrate how fragile the apparently perfect mechanism of the Austrian side is after all.
And returning to the topic of Max Verstappen, it is unacceptable that a driver, even one as phenomenal and successful like Max, who has won the constructors’ and drivers’ championships (with an overwhelming advantage of 136 points) does not accept giving up sixth position to his teammate who is fighting for second place. Only a team with no history or reputation, like Red Bull, can run into a situation like this.
We know how much for Enzo Ferrari the team always came before the drivers. And when even a seven-time world champion like Lewis Hamilton agrees to come to the pits handing the victory to the young George Russell and preserving the one-two for Mercedes in Sao Paulo, then we understand even more the extent of the problem.
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