The obvious Zoff between the two Red Bull regular drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez is anything but settled. There has long been speculation that the dispute between the two Formula 1 stars will escalate.
According to recent media reports, old and new F1 world champion Max Verstappen is said to be “anything but happy” with Sergio Pérez as a teammate. At least that’s what it said in the explanations of “f1-insider.com“, in which the scenario of the Mexican being kicked out has already been set up.
As is well known, the reason for the dispute between Verstappen and Pérez was the qualifying session in Monaco, when Checo caused an interruption in Q3 with a spin, which meant that Verstappen was unable to improve beyond starting position four.
The race in Monte Carlo was won by Pérez a day later on May 29, while Verstappen had to settle for third place at the Grand Prix in his adopted home.
An incident that is still not forgotten by the world champion. If Pérez’s supposedly intentional qualifying spin continues to put such a strain on the internal relationship in the Red Bull team, there is even reason for an “early termination”, according to the media report.
Verstappen twice refused Pérez internal team help
According to “f1-insider.com”, Max Verstappen has long wanted his old teammate Daniel Ricciardo back. The Australian drove a conceivably weak 2022 season in the McLaren, but will nevertheless switch back to his old place of work at Red Bull as a test driver for the coming season.
Between 2016 and 2018 he drove for the Austro-British team together with Max Verstappen, the two colleagues were said to have a good relationship during this time.
If it were up to Verstappen, he could only too well imagine Ricciardo as the second regular driver at Red Bull – instead of Sergio Pérez, who Verstappen twice refused internal team help in the final sprint of the season in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi.
In the end, Pérez fell back behind Charles Leclerc in third place in the drivers’ standings and ended the year with suboptimal sporting results and with internal team disputes.