Although Max Verstappen only started the race from 15th place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the reigning double Formula 1 World Champion ended up taking second place. Eddie Jordan believes that Red Bull planned it that way in advance. In his opinion, a fake problem helped to enforce the internal agreement.
After just 25 of 50 laps at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen had almost erased the damage caused by his broken drive shaft in qualifying. At half-time, the Dutchman (also thanks to the help of the safety car) had worked his way up from 15th on the grid to second. At this point, he was only five seconds behind team-mate Sergio Pérez.
Because Verstappen was faster than the Mexican all weekend before, many wondered why the double world champion was unable to close the small gap in front in the last 25 laps. Former Formula 1 team boss Eddie Jordan makes a spicy assumption. He believes: The team didn’t want the Dutchman to pass Pérez and banned him.
“Under normal circumstances, Max Verstappen would have won the race. I think there was an agreement to let Sergio Pérez win if he took pole and led the race the whole time,” Jordan speculated in an interview with the sports betting platform. OLBG”. According to Jordan, the team wanted to prevent the already tense atmosphere between the two pilots from heating up further with this agreement.
If he had been Pérez and had been attacked by Verstappen in the race, “I wouldn’t have let him pass,” said Jordan, who is convinced: “I think they agreed that Verstappen if he made it up to second place and Pérez is still first, lets him win.”
The former Formula 1 team boss also believes that Verstappen was reminded of this plan during the race with a coded message. When the Dutchman suddenly reported problems with the drive shaft 15 laps before the end, it was nothing more than a code.
“If you have problems with the drive shaft 15 laps before the end, then it will break. But the engineer told Verstappen that the car is ok and under control. I think that was news,” Jordan is convinced that the radio exchange or the problems of Red Bull and Verstappen were only faked.
Perhaps, Eddie Jordan suggested, he was reading a little too much into the situation himself. “But I think Verstappen would have won the race if he had been allowed [gegen Pérez] to fight.”