The Red Bull duo had a huge falling out at Sunday’s race at Interlagos, after Perez let Verstappen overtake him in the closing stages as the team attempted to salvage more points after an underwhelming race.
Verstappen was told that if he could not pass Fernando Alonso for fifth place by the last corner of the last lap he should let Perez back past, with the Mexican fighting for P2 in the standings while the Dutchman had already sealed the 2022 title.
However, Verstappen refused to yield the place and angrily told his team on the radio: ‘I told you already last time… don’t ask that again to me, are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it.’
Later, after the drivers and Red Bull boss Christian Horner had discussed the incident, he told Sky Sports: ‘I have my reasons for that. We just discussed that.
‘I think that it was good that we just sat together and talked about it, so we can move forward from here.’
So what exactly are these reasons? Well, it appears the two-time champion is still bitter over what happened during qualifying for Monaco back in May.
Perez crashed at the end of the session and brought out the red flag, meaning that Verstappen couldn’t set a final flying lap and as a result, the Dutchman would start in P4 behind his teammate in P3 at the notorious street circuit where overtaking is near impossible.
Perez would eventually win the race and while this would ultimately have no bearing on the championship, Verstappen oddly still holds a grudge, despite there being no proof whatsoever that Perez’s crash was intentional.
It should be noted that at the previous round in Spain, Perez was controversially ordered by Red Bull to give up the lead of the race, and a certain win, to Verstappen, an act that Red Bull have yet to make up to Perez.
Going into the season finale at Abu Dhabi this Sunday, Perez is level on points with Charles Leclerc for second in the standings, with Horner adamant that Verstappen will help Perez if asked, with Red Bull aiming to claim a 1-2 in the championship for the first time ever.
‘We go into Abu Dhabi as a team to do the best we can for Checo [Perez] to achieve second place, and Max will fully support that. It’s a straight fight between Checo and Charles, and if Max can help in any way, he will do.
‘We work as a team, race as a team. Our objective and priority is to see if we can get Checo to finish as runner-up in the championship. It’s something we’ve never achieved as a team before, and Max has given his commitment as well that we’ll be doing the best we can in Abu Dhabi to achieve that.’
MORE : ‘After all I’ve done for him’ – Sergio Perez hits out at Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen
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