Last weekend’s grand prix in Brazilian São Paulo did not go as planned for the Red Bull team.
The cars were slow in the corners and instead Mercedes was able to take the first win of the season.
However, the talk afterward has mostly been about what happened in the final stages of the race between the two Red Bull cars.
The already clear world champion Max Verstappen was ordered to let past teammate Sergio Pérez, who is chasing second place in the World Cup, but refused. Verstappen drove in sixth, just ahead of a frustrated Pérez.
“Showing Who He Is”
Afterwards, Verstappen was heavily criticized – not least by Pérez himself – and ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi, he is now responding to the criticism.
— That they (the media) shot me down right away is quite ridiculous, to be honest. People don’t know how I work with the stable and what the stable appreciates about me, so everything I’ve read is quite disgusting, says the Dutchman according to Sky Sports.
Pérez could be heard saying that “this shows what a man he is” over the radio at the finish, but now says he has let the incident go.
“We have discussed what happened there and we are ready to move forward as a team,” he says.
However, not everyone on social media has done that. Verstappen believes that he has had to endure hatred and threats during the past week.
— They have attacked my family, threatened my sister, my mother, my girlfriend, my father and for me it has gone way too far. This has to stop. If you have a problem with me, that’s fine but don’t go after my family because that’s unacceptable, he says.
Tight for second place
Abu Dhabi’s grand prix is the last race of the year and runs on Sunday afternoon, Swedish time.
Max Verstappen is clear world champion and Red Bull has clinched the constructors’ championship.
However, Pérez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc are tied for second place. Both drivers are on 290 points heading into the race.