I crashed on purpose? It’s speculation that people create, Pérez said of Monaco. With Max, we have to keep the team together

Did Sergio Pérez crash in Monaco on purpose? This is one of the big topics of the last few days, and one that many analysts have already addressed. This heated debate was sparked by the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen did not return the position to his teammate. Why? He was said to have had his reasons, which included qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix in May…

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix – not a very successful race for Red Bull, and one that caused a lot of controversy. On the last lap, the two drivers of the Austrian team were in sixth and seventh place respectively.

And it was the sixth position that first belonged to the Mexican Pérez, who let Verstappen go ahead of him on the penultimate lap, thinking that he would try to take Alonso’s fifth place. But if Verstappen failed to do so, he was to let his Mexican teammate back in front of him on the last lap.

It should be noted, we took a closer look at this topic after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Both in the form of an article, which you can find in the link, and in our podcast attached above.

The two-time champion, however, did not give Pérez his position back, despite his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase having warned him several times via team radio on the last lap of the race to give Pérez his position back.

Verstappen then explained his reasons in a post-race interview, with even Red Bull boss Christian Horner noting that internally the two parties had sorted things out.

Verstappen’s statement

“I have my reasons. We just discussed it and I think it was better that we finally sat down and talked about it and just moved on. If he needs help in Abu Dhabi, I’ll be there for him,” Verstappen said in that post-race interview.

“It wasn’t about position, it didn’t matter if he was first, second, fifth or 10th. It was something that happened earlier in the season, I explained it in Mexico and the team understood and agreed. I’ve never been a bad teammate for anyone, I’ve always been very helpful and the team knows that I will always put the team’s interests first.

And that’s because at the end of the day, it’s always all about the team result. I think we’ve learned from this that we need to be a bit more open with each other and communicate better,” Verstappen explained in another F1 interview.

But of course Red Bull did not admit anything specific

Verstappen’s reasons, of course, have not yet been made official and probably never will be. However, what should be noted is the fact that the Dutch media subsequently came up with a very strong and no less heated speculation. And that was that Verstappen, by this act, had allegedly returned the Monaco incident to Pérez.

It was then, during Saturday’s qualifying, that the Mexican driver crashed in the last part of the race, specifically at Turn 8. Or rather, the corner before entering the tunnel.

So what are the speculations that the Dutch media are talking about? Pérez crashed in Q3 at turn 8 on purpose. As a result, Verstappen couldn’t set a better time and ended up fourth behind his teammate.

Logically, the Austrian stable has no choice but to clearly reject these speculations from a PR point of view. And at the moment, no one can really know the truth. Also, all analysts can rely on apparently clear facts, although only Pérez can confirm whether this was intentional or not.

Analysis of Turn 8

In practice, the point is that the pilot has to be really sensitive when exiting this and similar corners. Pérez had done this correctly in the previous laps, and had negotiated the corner without any problems at all. But then came some analyses and details from telemetry which showed that Pérez had simply “stepped on the accelerator” at the exit of Turn 8.

And that, of course, doesn’t make sense in the world of F1, and that’s where the nut lies, and it’s a nut that probably won’t be cracked. Verstappen’s statement is of course a confirmation of the above facts, and F1 fans may also wonder “why else would he do it?”.

Yes, the other side of the story is that it may be a simple driver error. Either way, it’s safe to say that Verstappen’s behaviour has caused Red Bull unnecessary problems.

And that’s considering how helpful Pérez has always been in terms of teamwork and what he has done for Verstappen himself in the past.

Pérez denies the accusations

“It’s not that I did it on purpose, everyone makes mistakes at Monaco. I almost crashed at the first corner. That’s just speculation created by the media. We are all aware of what’s going on in the team and we want to keep everything together,” Pérez told Racing News 365.

“You can see the whole lap. It was Q3 where I give it my all. People just make mistakes when you’re chasing lap times. I think it’s just part of the speculation that people create. It happened a few races ago and it’s completely irrelevant to me now,” he added.

“I’m thinking about this weekend and I want to make sure the team is in a good mood. We’ve had a great season, it’s been an incredible year for Red Bull. Max and I have a big responsibility to keep the team together and moving forward, ” he concluded.

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