17/11/2022
NEWS STORY
As Red Bull seeks to draw a line under driver feud, Sergio Perez insists that his crash during Q3 in Monaco was not intentional.
Until last weekend, the only real blip on Red Bull's 2022 radar appeared to be the budget cap saga and the death of Dietrich Mateschitz.
But then came that awkward exchange between Max Verstappen and his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase and the infamous reference to "last summer".
Over the hours that followed it was claimed that the Dutchman was referring to Q3 in Monaco and his belief that teammate Sergio Perez had deliberately crashed in a bid to thwart his attempt at a quicker lap.
Today Red Bull said it had made a mistake in calling on Verstappen to yield to Perez in the final stages of the Interlagas race, glossing over the cause of the subsequent row insisting that it remain "private".
However, with social media on the case, and Netflix executives (and F1 bosses) sensing a new twist for Drive to Survive, the events of "last summer" took centre stage in Abu Dhabi today.
Keen to clear the air, Perez insists there was nothing untoward about his crash, which saw the stricken Red Bull clouted at Portier by Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, bringing out the red flag and leaving no time for the session to resume.
"Everyone makes mistakes in Monaco and you can have all the information and go and see it already that I nearly crashed into Turn 1," the Mexican told reporters.
"Everyone makes mistakes in Monaco," he continued, "and in general in qualifying, it's not like it was done on purpose."
Referring to last weekend, he said: "We have discussed what happened in Sao Paulo internally and we have agreed for the benefit of the team that this should remain internal, what we discussed within the team.
"It's best so we don't open any speculation," he added, "we move on and we are able to be the team we used to be, united and strong, and that is the priority of the team, to put all of this behind us and just move forward."
Asked about claims that he had admitted to team members, including Helmut Marko, that his Monaco crash was deliberate, Perez said: "That's just speculation from the media out there, just people creating rumours. As I said, we are all aware of what's going on within the team, and we want to keep everything within the team.
"It's just part of the sport and the speculation people like to make," he continued. "To me, this happened so many races ago, that it's totally irrelevant. I'm thinking about this weekend, I'm thinking about making sure the team is in good spirits, because we've had a tremendous season.
It's been a hell of a year for Red Bull, and I don't want any of this to take any enjoyment for any of the guys in my team. I think Max and myself we have a very strong responsibility to keep this united team going forwards."
Of course, how he might feel about claims subsequently made by Verstappen's mother on social media are another matter entirely.
"OK, we're rolling... take 1," as Legs Larry might say.
Check out our Thursday gallery from Yas Marina here.