Max Verstappen ignored the Red Bull team’s orders at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix as he finished ahead of Sergio Pérez. The Dutchman passed Perez with a handful of laps to go in an attempt to catch up with Charles Leclerc, who is embroiled in a title fight with the Mexican.
Verstappen was asked to let Pérez pass if he could not move forward with the cars in front. His race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, begged Verstappen to let his teammate pass as they headed into the final corner.
He said, “Max, let Checo in, please.” But Verstappen was not heard to reply to the message, raising fears about whether he would agree with the decision.
As Verstappen crossed the line ahead of Perez, Lambiase continued: “Max, what happened?” After leaving the team’s demands blank, Verstappen replied: “I already told you… Is that clear? I gave my reasons and I stand firm.” it’s.”
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Perez fell through the field in the closing stages in Brazil despite valiant attempts to fend off cars on newer tyres. Meanwhile, Verstappen went down in the field after a collision with Lewis Hamilton early in the race.
He benefited from a late safety car to jump from tenth to sixth in the closing laps on fresher tyres. It means Perez and Leclerc will head into next week’s season finale tied on points in the battle to secure second place.
Last season, Verstappen took advantage of Pérez obeying team orders to secure his first world title. Perez’s staunch defense of Lewis Hamilton was key to Verstappen’s success in Abu Dhabi.
The Mexican sacrificed his own career to stop the Mercedes driver and Verstappen described Perez as a “legend” last December. Perez was also asked not to race Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this season despite being in contention.
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