Max Verstappen did not follow the orders of the Red Bull team as revenge for the deliberate crash of Sergio Pérez in Monaco, Dutch media have claimed. Perez hit the barrier in Q3 in May, preventing Verstappen from challenging Charles Leclerc for pole position.
The Mexican eventually won the Grand Prix with Red Bull accused of not endorsing Verstappen by the Dutchman’s father. Speaking to Viaplay Sport Nederland, Dutch World Touring driver Tom Coronel revealed that Verstappen had “not forgotten” the incident earlier this season.
He explained: “Perez voluntarily ended [crashing] in Monaco in qualifying and admitted it against Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. Verstappen has not forgotten.” Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf endorsed the comments moments after they were aired.
Journalist Erik van Haren posted: “What @TomCoronel just said on ViaPlay is correct.” After the checkered flag, Verstappen admitted to the race engineers that he had specific reasons for not following his instructions.
READ MORE: Christian Horner refuses to answer question amid Red Bull tensions
Perez fell back towards the end of the race as he struggled on older tires. Verstappen had benefited from a late safety car to climb from tenth to sixth in the closing laps.
He was unable to pass Alonso’s Alpine on the final lap before refusing to slow down for Pérez. It means the Mexican is level on points with Charles Leclerc in the battle to secure second place in the Drivers’ Championship.
Horner also declined to go into details when asked why Verstappen ignored the team’s order. He said: “I am not going to go into what we discussed behind closed doors. The drivers have discussed it and have shaken hands.
He added: “We will discuss it as a larger group in the post-report and the larger discussion will also be why we miss a beat this weekend. It is important that it be addressed; everything is treated above the table and as a team we move forward”.
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