In the closing stages of last week’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull asked Verstappen, long confident of his second world title, to overtake Perez for sixth place, which, albeit anecdotally, would have allowed the Mexican to overtake Charles Leclerc. (Ferrari) is in second place in the world.
- Formula 1: 2022 season calendar
- Formula 1: manufacturers classification
- Formula 1: Driver classification
Verstappen refused
It was in his boots that he returned to the incident on Thursday at the press conference for the final round of the year outside the Abu Dhabi GP. “In the end, I didn’t do anything wrong, people just misunderstood what happened.”
If he did pull out, Verstappen explained it would be in response to “something that happened at the start of the season”.
According to the specialist press, the Dutchman believes that Perez deliberately crashed at the end of qualifying in Monaco, preventing Verstappen from completing his lap and forcing him to start the race behind him. In the end, Perez won and Verstappen finished 3rd.
On Thursday, Peres denied the “speculation” and said he “didn’t do it on purpose.” He added that Red Bull wanted to deal with it “in-house”.
In hot Sao Paulo, however, the Mexican did not mince his words. “It shows who he really is,” he responded on the radio.
“If he has two titles, it’s thanks to me,” added “Cheko”, referring to the many helping hands this lieutenant offered his boss, both in 2021 and 2022. This year in Spain, for example, Peres. accepted the command of his team, allowing “Mad Max” to pass, which ended in victory.
Source: Le Figaro
I am Dylan Hudson, a dedicated and experienced journalist in the news industry. I have been working for Buna Times, as an author since 2018. My expertise lies in covering sports sections of the website and providing readers with reliable information on current sporting events.