It’s true that Verstappen was outspoken when Perez’s Red Bull spun, hit the wall, and became an effective roadblock at the entrance to the Monte Carlo tunnel. It happened as drivers were on their final flying laps on a circuit where starting position is more critical than most. Predictably it brought out the red flag, which ended the session.
That left Perez third on the grid, ahead of Verstappen, who was improving his time on his final Q3 lap, which may have resulted in him leapfrogging Perez.
Perez blamed the unusual crash on pushing hard with the wrong set-up and cold tyres. Pundits didn’t see any suggestion of foul play and we don’t know whether Perez’s telemetry suggested that he had sabotaged the lap. However, Red Bull confirmed a two-year contract extension for him two days later, which is thought to have been signed ahead of the Monaco race.
“We are still going to be in love, right?”
But Verstappen wasn’t happy. “It is irritating and a pity of course that the one who put it in the wall was my team-mate,” he said.
“But in the end you don’t get a penalty for that. So if you know you have a good first run, then you can think: ‘Ah well, I’ll park it and tactically send it into the wall.'”
“It’s nice for the person who hangs it in the wall. But for me it’s a bummer, of course.”
It’s unlikely that Verstappen’s mood improved the following day when Perez followed the perfect strategy to win, while Verstappen rolled in third. There was no sign of any rift, however — the opposite in fact.
Verstappen congratulates Perez on Monaco win
Getty images
The drivers embraced as they celebrated their podium places. In the post-race press conference, the Dutchman was asked whether his relationship with Perez, who had closed to within 15 points in the drivers’ championship would change,
“I don’t think so,” said Verstappen. “We have a good…”
Perez then interjected: “We are still going to be in love, right?”
“Yeah, absolutely,” responded Verstappen. “Why would that change? We work really well as a team. We can accept when somebody does a good job or does a better job and I think that’s very important because that’s how you are respectful to each other and yeah, may the best man win at the end, right?
“We always, of course, trying to do the best we can on the track but we also respect each other a lot and try to score the most possible points every single weekend for the team.”
In reality, there was little reason for Verstappen to feel destabilised, after Perez was ordered to let him past twice at the previous Spanish Grand Prix with the promise that the favour would be repaid. The pair were on different strategies, but in the period where Perez was the faster Red Bull, he was prevented from passing Verstappen.
Perhaps that was one of the incidents in Perez’s mind when he bemoaned what he had done to help Verstappen.
No signs of rift as Perez and Verstappen catch up after this year’s US GP
Red Bull
Without his team-mate, Verstappen may have also lost to Hamilton in Abu Dhabi last year. Perez stayed out on old tyres held Hamilton up, so Verstappen could close up behind them. That left the Mercedes unable to pit for fresh tyres under a virtual safety car, which partly led to the situation at the end of the race. Hamilton, on worn tyres, was vulnerable to Verstappen when the safety car was brought in early, leaving one racing lap to decide the championship.
But perhaps almost as bizarre as the Interlagos rift is the insistence that this was simply a one-off.
Verstappen insists that he will help Perez to finish second in the drivers’ championship if needed, in the final race of the season, back in Abu Dhabi. Horner suggested that the dispute is over too.
