Core Reason Behind Max Verstappen–Sergio Perez Red Bull Civil War Questioned: “Not in the DNA of a Driver”

Red Bull had a dominating streak this season. Since neither of the top opposition teams appeared to be able to compete fairly with Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s brilliance on the F1 tracks, the Austrian outfit won 17 out of 22 races. The team’s drama culminated in a civil war situation between both Red Bull’s drivers at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Austrian squad was doing well up to the race in Sao Paulo. In a nutshell, Max Verstappen refused to give up his P6 position and two additional points to his teammate at Interlagos, even though he had already won the championship. Sergio Perez, on the other hand, was vying with Charles Leclerc of Ferrari for second place in the driver’s rankings. The Mexican driver was greatly miffed by this.

When Max Verstappen claimed that he had reasons for not giving the Mexican driver his position, he meant it to be a payback to Sergio Perez who had allegedly rammed his car into the wall during the Monaco Grand Prix qualifying.

To give you a little more context, the Mexican driver’s spin at Portier during the final qualifying runs wrecked Verstappen’s final lap, earning him a third-place starting position over Verstappen’s fourth. The event has grown into a huge controversy, and it’s still unclear what the true issue between the two drivers was. Speaking about the occurrence, de la Rosa told Motorsport.com at the Las 500 Millas de Palou De that he doesn’t think the rumor has any substance.

He said, “I think that Checo [Perez] did nothing wrong in Monaco, he did nothing on purpose. It is very difficult for him [if] a driver crashes on purpose. Another thing is that you park the car. But it’s not in the DNA of a driver to crash.” [Translated via Google]

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Although, with the help of team principal Christian Horner, things appear to have calmed down between the two drivers. The Briton concedes that the team did not intend for something of this nature to occur and acknowledges that it was a collective error.

Horner acknowledges the error that resulted in the argument between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez

The head of the Red Bull team, Christian Horner, thinks that the team wasn’t prepared for any chance of switching places during the race. Further, he accepts full responsibility for the failure of the swap, which cost Perez two significant points in the fight for P2. Horner stated, “I think the root cause of the problem was we never envisaged being in a situation in the final few laps, being in sixth or seventh place in that Grand Prix.”

He also added that the team should have considered every possibility that might have occurred during the race. He remarked, “That was a mistake on our part that we should have thought through or tried to think through every single scenario. So I think that was a mistake as a team that we didn’t discuss it and come up with a very clear plan.”

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The team appeared to be quite well-established at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and the air also seemed to be clearer at this point. However, as of right now, Perez will likely feel tense because the Honey Badger has returned to the team, which will undoubtedly increase the pressure on the Mexican driver to perform well.