The USA soccer team perished against their Dutch counterparts on the biggest stage of the global football tournament. However, at halftime, Americans still harbored hope of potentially winning the game. To further enhance the hopes, a NASCAR inside posted a double-edged tweet. He hinted at a Formula 1 controversy involving a Dutchman going against his own teammate.
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Nascarcasm stated, “Have faith, the Dutch tend to turn on their own teammates in the second half of the event. USA USA USA #USMNT #USAvNED”
Right after, Nelson Piquet’s daughter and soon-to-be NASCAR driver, Daniel Suarez‘s wife, Julia Yasmeen Piquet, responded, “Shots fired!!” Yasmeen Piquet’s sister, Kelly, incidentally is the girlfriend of Formula One driver, Max Verstappen.
The Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez saga
Nascarcasm was cleverly referring to the Brazilian GP incident wherein the Dutchman, Max Verstappen, turned on his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
Back in Brazil, Perez was ahead of Verstappen in the final stages of the race, when the engineers asked him to allow Verstappen to go ahead in order to chase the guys in front. But they also promised Perez that if Verstappen was unable to catch up to the cars in front, he would give the position back to Perez. However, as we all witnessed, Verstappen ignored his radio calls and never ceded the position back.
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Later, when the Dutchman’s engineer asked what happened and why did he not do as instructed, Verstappen stated, “I told you already. Guys, don’t ask me again. Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons. And I stand by it.”
Perez was evidently furious after the race had ended. He went on his radio to say, “It shows who he really is”. Possibly, the Dutchman’s self-centered behavior denied Perez the opportunity to secure the points. The points would have placed him second in the championship standings.
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He had a chance again at Abu Dhabi but unfortunately was unable to close the gap to Ferrari‘s Charles Leclerc and ended up finishing in third place in the standings. In the aftermath, everyone was furious with how Verstappen had acted against his own teammate to satisfy his own ego.