Max Verstappen’s grudge with Perez stems from ‘deliberate’ cras

Max Verstappen didn’t follow Red Bull’s team orders as payback for Sergio Perez crashing deliberately in Monaco, according to claims from Dutch media. Perez hit the barrier in Q3 back in May which stopped Verstappen from challenging Charles Leclerc for pole.

The Mexican eventually won the Grand Prix with Red Bull accused of not backing Verstappen by the Dutchman’s father. Speaking to Viaplay Sport Nederland, Dutch World Touring car driver Tom Coronel revealed Verstappen had “not forgotten” the incident earlier this season.

He explained: “Perez ended up voluntarily [crashing] in Monaco in qualifying and admitted it to Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. Verstappen has not forgotten.” Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf supported the remarks moments after they were broadcast on air.

Journalist Erik van Haren posted: “It is correct what @TomCoronel just said at ViaPlay.” After the chequered flag, Verstappen admitted to race engineers that he had specific reasons for not following their instructions.

READ MORE: Christian Horner refuses to answer question amid Red Bull tensions

Perez dropped back towards the end of the race as he struggled on older tyres. Verstappen had benefitted from a late safety car to rise from tenth to sixth in the last few laps.

He was unable to get past Alonso’s Alpine on the final lap before he refused to slow down for Perez. It means the Mexican sits tied on points with Charles Leclerc in the battle to secure P2 in the Drivers’ Championship.

Horner also refused to get drawn into details when questioned on why Verstappen ignored the team order. He said: “I’m not going to go into what we discussed behind closed doors. The drivers have discussed it and they have shaken hands.”

And added: “We will discuss it as a larger group in the debrief later and the bigger discussion will be as well is why we were missing the pace this weekend. It is important it is addressed; it is all dealt with above the table and as a team we move on.”