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Sergio Perez

Perez: Verstappen 'showed who he really is' in team order refusal

Sergio Perez was left furious after Max Verstappen refused a team order in Brazil, costing him points.

Perez Brazil
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To news overview © Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Sergio Perez says Max Verstappen "showed who he really is" after the World Champion refused a Red Bull team order in the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix.

With Perez struggling on Medium tyres, Verstappen was guided through by Red Bull to attack Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc in a bid to try and overtake Leclerc, which would have aided Perez's battle for P2 in the Drivers' Championship.

Verstappen's engineer told him to let Perez by on the final lap if he could not pass Alonso, but Verstappen refused the direct order, claiming he had his reasons for doing so and told the team never to make a similar request.

On the cool down lap Perez, who finished seventh to Leclerc's fourth, characterised Verstappen as showing his true colours.

Perez was told "Max will let you through," before adding "Yeah, thank you for that, guys," after Verstappen's refusal.

Team boss Christian Horner apologised to Perez, saying "we'll debrief after", before Perez responded "Yeah, it shows who he really is".

He later added that “I don’t understand what his reaction was; if he has two championships it is thanks to me."

Also interesting:

Video: F1 pit-stops under two seconds are allowed (and THIS is why)

At the Mexico City Grand Prix, McLaren became the first team to complete a sub-two second pit-stop since the introduction of the new F1 pit-stop regulations, changing all four tyres on Daniel Ricciardo's car in 1.98 seconds.

So how did the team do this, and what changes have been made to F1's pit-stop procedure in the last couple of years?

F1 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix RN365 News dossier

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