Will it be a team duel for the World Cup crown? Jeddah winner Sergio Perez hopes so. Rival Verstappen shows in Saudi Arabia what “typically Max” means. conflicts cannot be ruled out.
The World Championship fight in Formula 1 is initially a team duel at Red Bull – and such duels always have the potential for conflict.
For Sergio Perez, the difference between him and Max Verstappen is currently not that big. “There are small margins between us at the moment,” he said after winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Mexican senses his chance. “I’m here to fight, that’s the only reason,” said the 33-year-old Perez. “We are allowed to drive freely, so the best will be in front,” countered Verstappen, the defending champion and two-time world champion. “A monster with two heads,” wrote the French sports newspaper “L’Équipe” in view of the superior Red Bull and the two drivers who were already victorious this year.
Two weeks after Verstappen’s success in Bahrain ahead of Perez, Perez relegated Verstappen to second place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. However, the Dutchman started from position 15 after a defect in the drive shaft in qualifying, Pérez from pole.
World Championship standings: Verstappen one point ahead of Perez
However, Verstappen did not want to give up the lead in the classification. After two races he is one point ahead of Perez. Up until the last lap on Sunday, it looked as if Perez, as world championship leader, would travel to Australia for the next race with just that one point more. But then Verstappen almost playfully snatched the one decisive additional point from his teammate. “Typical Max: Last lap so Perez can’t counter, the fastest lap smashed,” commented Red Bull’s Motorsport Director Helmut Marko.
By the 49th, Perez had turned the fastest lap, as if on demand, Verstappen countered in the last lap. “That’s typical Max. He always tries to get the most out of it,” said Sky expert and former world champion Nico Rosberg.
The team bosses were powerless. “We couldn’t control that. That was Max,” stated Marko, they couldn’t have forbidden him that. Perez, who at least didn’t have to fear for his fifth career win after the second pole of his career, announced: “We’ll have to look at that again, because I definitely got different information and in the end I couldn’t push anymore. “
Source: Stern
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