Max Verstappen's refusal to yield to teammate Sergio Perez in the final stages of Sao Paulo Grand Prix is believed to be 'payback' for an incident during qualifying in Monaco.

Having failed to overhaul Fernando Alonso, far less Charles Leclerc, as the Interlagos race came to an end, Verstappen was asked to yield to his teammate who had earlier been called on to let the Dutchman - on fresher tyres - through to battle the pair.

However, Verstappen maintained his position and held on to sixth, ahead of his teammate, meaning that in the battle for the championship runner-up spot, the Mexican goes into the final race on equal points with his rival. (Sound familiar?)

On being asked by his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase why he hadn't given way to the Mexican, Verstappen snapped: "I told you last summer, don't ask that again to me. OK, are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it."

At a time most were under the impression that all is rosy within the Austrian team, Verstappen's comment, combined with Perez' reaction of "it shows who he really is," indicates that all is not well.

"Of course, I understand from Checo's side he's disappointed," explained Verstappen later, "but I also gave my reasons about why I didn't do it, about something that happened in the past.

"That's why I think finally, we all sat together and talked about it. And I think as a team we understand and we have to move forward."

Keen to put a lid on things before they escalated out of control, team boss Christian Horner, who had earlier been spotted in heated conversation with Verstappen and his manager, said: "We discussed it, obviously behind closed doors... or the drivers discussed it.

"As a team, our focus going into Abu Dhabi with Charles and Checo tied on points is to do our best that we can to support Checo to achieve second place. Max has obviously made that commitment as well, so as far as we're concerned it's about looking forward, not looking backwards."

Talk in the paddock is that the "something that happened in the past" was a reference to Monaco when Perez crashed out on his final run in Q3, thereby denying Verstappen a chance at pole.

Perez, who had been out-performing the Dutchman for much of the weekend, hit the barrier at Portier and bounced back onto the track only to be clouted by Sainz, the pair forming a road black, and with just 30 seconds remaining the session did not resume.

Verstappen has always questioned the crash, while members of the Dutch media claimed that Perez subsequently admitted to Horner and Helmut Marko that it was intentional and aimed at denying the Dutchman pole.

It was in the wake of the subsequent race, which marked Perez' second victory for Red Bull, that Jos Verstappen hit out at the team accusing the Austrian outfit of throwing away valuable points and not doing more to help his son.

"We put everything on the table why," explained Verstappen when pressed in the Interlagos paddock. "I gave my reasons. I'm not going to say why, but I think they understood. I already explained to them before, so it was not new to me, it was not new to them."

Asked if his refusal was payback for Monaco, he replied: "You can decide that."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ian_w, 16/11/2022 9:58

"Post-race incident commentary:
Verstappen: "I think we are professional enough to move forward". (Did everyone accept it [your explanation]?) "I guess so. We're not babies."
Perez : "We are all grown-ups and we will move forward as a team".

Last I checked, there's a lot of growing up to be done between babies and grown-ups. Petulant teenager phase comes to mind.

"

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2. Posted by elsiebc, 15/11/2022 17:02

"True champions are dicks. There is only one conceivable outcome to them and the other 19 drivers need to acknowledge that. Elsewhere down the pack there will be great battles between two drivers, going round corner after corner, giving each other racing room, relishing the race regardless of the outcome. Whereas two true champions both lay claim to the same racing line and can't understand why the other would have the audacity not to yield. They have a supreme level of confidence to the point of entitlement.

Multiple championships soften the external side because they have proven to themselves and to the world what they have always known. Journalists call it "maturity". It allows them to be more measured with their words because you have accepted them for what they are, the greatest, the best, the chosen. But I assure you while Lewis has enough past successes to draw on to more easily tolerate this Russel's discrepancy, it is not the order of the universe in his mind. One or more forces conspired to create this unholy outcome, one or more may be directly under his control even. He was not bested, he was outperformed. Whether it be the pitstop, tire choice, fuel load, Max running into him, or his line in turn 5, he will find it and fix it because it cannot be.

Just like the Highlander, "there can be only one." But the battle isn't to see who it is, because they already know that."

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3. Posted by Chester, 15/11/2022 13:18

"Do we really believe that Max is cooperating with Netflix? Really? Max wants to deliberately cause bad relations with Sergio and his team for ratings?

And has Verstappen's attitude changed towards Hamilton and vice-versa, especially given that some folks cannot forget Abu Dhabi? They both want to beat each other.

In other sports there is a saying " What goes around comes around". The New Orleans Saints (American football) do not revisit the playoff game where a game changing foul was caught on camera, but could not be reversed, depriving them of a Drew Brees shot at the Superbowl.

Netflix brought new fans. Fine. The racing is far better this year and last. Far better than watching Schumacher win 7x, Vettel win 4x and Lewis win 7x."

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4. Posted by Editor, 15/11/2022 8:29

"Ignoring the deployment of the safety car, something F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali said would be made more use of in future, at a time he says the early conclusion of the championship will not impact fan interest, going into the final round – at that place - we have a potential revival of the Hamilton/Verstappen feud, intra team friction at Alpine and Ferrari and, of course Red Bull.

And now F1 is back in the headlines, and everyone will tune into the final race for a potential grudge match… all stirred up nicely by the likes of Sky.

For someone who previously wanted no part of Drive to Survive, claiming that it distorted reality and created rivalries and bad feeling where there was none, Max is now clearly on board and reading from the correct script.

After Hamilton’s possible retirement last winter, one wonders what plan they have up their sleeves to keep things going this time around.

It’s not even a choice between sport and entertainment any longer, now it’s a trashy soap opera."

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5. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 14/11/2022 17:10

"How petty x10."

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6. Posted by Paulinho, 14/11/2022 17:09

"A very harmonious team."

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7. Posted by Superbird70, 14/11/2022 17:06

"It's going to be a long two years until the end of Sergio's contract extension."

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8. Posted by Pavlo, 14/11/2022 16:45

"Whatever it was, Max needs good mentor. Just like he lost victory in Brazil just for pride of being not un-lapped, now he lost a good teammate who would support his next title. Just to prove a point? Stupid."

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9. Posted by Superbird70, 14/11/2022 13:17

"In retrospect, if true, it cost Verstappen nothing more than a victory. He retained his lead over Leclerc. He still got his championship. Red Bull have their constructors championship."

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10. Posted by Burton, 14/11/2022 12:28

"So he's 12, basically. Not that I'm surprised."

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11. Posted by Greybeard, 14/11/2022 12:13

"Of course they should.

But they won't.

Unless of course the guys at Netflix think there's a way of spicing up a season which is othewise over....."

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12. Posted by HoosierDaddy, 14/11/2022 12:11

"Crash-gate, the Sequel

If that was in the Dutch press, surely the FIA either looked into it then or decided not to."

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13. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 14/11/2022 11:42

""Perez subsequently admitted to Horner and Helmut Marko that it was intentional and aimed at denying the Dutchman pole" surely if this is true the FIA need to re-look at the incident in Monaco with retrospective punishment. "

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Payback for Monaco?

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