[vb-saan]

Perez in my opinion is the most talented second driver/wingman – compared to the likes of, say Bottas. The former played a perfect part in holding up Lewis in Abu Dhabi last year and eventually played a part in Max’s first championship win. But because Max is on the other side and the team is Red Bull, the reactions will be relatively muted; would have been a different story if this was Lewis/Mercedes

[AZT]

Max post-race interview clip on crashing with Lewis. He actually said crashing into Lewis cost him the win but I wasn’t gonna win anyway so doesn’t matter to me. What! This guy is toxic.

https://streamja.com/0Ob4W - Talking about Lewis

https://youtu.be/LPPa3VIp4pg

- Full video. The interviewer is brutal and Max just keeps justifying not giving Checo the place saying “reasons”.

[vinay.sathyan]

This is honestly very sad. I truly believe Max owes last year's final race win to Perez defending/blocking Lewis.
And in this race, Max had nothing to lose really and he has "his" reasons for not helping Perez win. I mean it wasn't even that Redbull asked Max to go block someone, they just asked Perez to pass through and he couldn't even do that.
Not only Perez, anyone who is playing the "team game" will lose trust now.

[drmohitg]

Success has gone to his head. While most F1 championship winners have always benefited from complying teammates in some way or the other, Max's victory last year was quite significantly made possible by his teammate. And by doing what he did today, he just lost credibility and came across as a sore loser. It would be interesting to see how many races he wins from now with his teammate not allowing him all those free passes over the course of the season. He may be faster than Checo but he does stand to lose precious time if he has to overtake him like any other race car instead of being offered a free pass all the time.

Completely lost me as a fan.

[Red Liner]

Checo being his own man is exactly what I wanted to see. This has played out beautifully. We need checo to play his own game from here on. This will spice up the championship for next year.

Of the top 4 teams, red bull is the only one with a compliant number 2. Not anymore.

[aim120]

What Max did to checo was a disgrace.

Compare that to what Lewis did check video. He kept his word to Bottas, that to podium place and Lewis was behind points compared to vettel. Very few drivers do this, even Sainz didn't give up is podium place.

https://youtu.be/rEIAK5Ao8DQ

[Cyborg]

What Max did is exactly what all greats (drivers who eventually became greats/legends) have done in the past. I don’t mean exactly this sort of thing, I mean from the mentality standpoint, like - I will do what I want, I don’t need any help from anyone, I, me and myself. You can think whatever you want, I don’t care.

He has since indicated in interviews that he will help Perez for the team if required in Abu Dhabi, so It will be interesting next year to see Perez’s reaction to this. Is he going to roll over and play the compliant team mate to Max or going to carry the grudge over. Let’s be practical, Sergio is never winning the title with Max around, Max is easily the better driver, so at best Sergio could become an inconvenience, nothing more than that.

I would love it if Perez carries the grudge over since it will be exiting for us

Cheers

[Gabbar010487]

Max has committed a huge blunder by denying Checo the 6th place. Checo has played the ultimate team game till now, IMO he is the sole reason Max won his first championship last year in Abu Dhabi, Checo defending Lewis for two laps straight was what gave Max his first world title. I have seen an umpteenth number of videos on yesterday's incident, and not a single comment defending Max's actions. Verstappen has lost a lot of fans due to this one mistake. The next race will show how the next season will turn out for Verstappen and Redbull.

[rudra_bvrm]

I agree with most of the comments made by fellow bhpians on Max, It was just too cold from him on Perez esp after calling him a legend during last year Abu Dhabi race. I hope this should trigger Checo and put on fight with Max next year that would be a spectacle. Similar to what Nico Rosberg did in 2016 with Lewis. Perez should go all out next year win it and retire as a champion!

[Mat095]

Brazil gives some extra energy to Lewis, this guy came 2nd after crashing with Max and a minor damage to the floor, stellar driving.

Also, saw quite a lot of friction between teammates but the one that made me angry was a certain championship winner not letting the guy who helped him with the championship pass for a couple points. Checo literally said “He’s showing who he really is”. Verstappen lost respect of entire Mexico and quite a few other fans that supported him last year with just one move. Leclerc was also seen asking Sainz to give his position and “think of the championship” but I don’t think it would’ve been fair to Sainz to give up a podium finish.

[Red Liner]

Charles asking for that position made me feel very sad. Yes he was undone many times by Ferrari clowns, but that means you work out what you need to do from the car like what Sainz, Lewis, and many others do. I haven't seen Charles ever being in control of his race like many others. Its almost like he is passenger.

[lokesh79]

I always wondered why I never liked Verstappen from Day 1, despite all the talent he demonstrated. It dawned on me at the end of this race that my subconscious is usually right about people. Such selfish behavior does not go unpunished. Feel for Checo.

[adwaith]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

What is sad (if Checo loses the 2nd position in the next race) is that Red Bull has never had the golden opportunity of winning both drivers & team championships with the drivers being 1 & 2 on the list. This year can be a new high for them.

But Redbull's biggest trump card and Ferrari's worst enemy is Ferrari themselves. Abu Dhabi being a critical race, one can reasonably count on Ferrari to mess things up for Charles and his P2 in the championship.

The most interesting part is that both of them go into Abu Dhabi tied, which was how Max and Lewis went in last year. That Ferrari is rapid but built and run by Ferrari so Checo still has a very goof* chance.


*(initially a typo, but now I think its a good pun)

Originally Posted by AZT

The interviewer is brutal and Max just keeps justifying not giving Checo the place saying “reasons”.

This is a rumour, with no backing at all and some say this originated from the Verstappen camp and none of this is substantiated, but the 'reason' apparently is that Checo crashed on purpose in Monaco denying Max pole and then later admitted it to Marko and Horner. I believe Brundle mentioned something about this as well just as the race ended.

Originally Posted by aim120

He kept his word to Bottas, that to podium place and Lewis was behind points compared to vettel.

Need to add that was when Lewis was in an intense title battle with Seb.

Originally Posted by rudra_bvrm

Perez should go all out next year win it and retire as a champion!

To be quite honest, Checo isn't quick enough to win the championship. Max is just too good and very rarely makes mistakes. RBR have a good car, but Merc is back, Ferrari is pretty good and both these teams have some epic drivers. (Sainz isn't epic but off late he has found some speed.) RBR no longer have the dominance the enjoyed this season until recently.

[McLaren Rulez]

I've got my fingers crossed that Perez finds some inner balls and refuses to comply next season for some team order. It is always entertaining to watch the entitled ones meet reality.

[TheWanderer]

This was an amazing weekend. Every part was interesting and there were a couple of unexpected stuff, or, some plain "masala" :-)

I was so happy to see Kevin Magnussen on pole, not just because he and Haas were the underdogs, but also because the shock that it gave to the "regular" pole position guys!

The overtakings in the sprint race was fun to watch and the fight between different team pairs was interesting too.

The original race started with a "bang" and then went on with bits of interesting pieces and major swaps in position between different people, and it was interesting that this time, Max and Leclerc was also in these set of people who gets shuffled!!! And to top all these, the "betrayals" and "in-fightings" were all out in the open too! If Lewis had caught up with Russel, that would have also created another interesting "team" situation, luckily Russel managed to hold on!

I have no respect for any of these guys (in terms of their integrity and attitude! But, love and respect their racing skills) as I have seen every one of them (whether champions or the "supporting" guys or even the ones at the bottom of the table) ditching their team and team mates whenever it suited them. That's how F1 has been and will be. Enjoy the racing, don't take the incidents to the heart and just watch if like a serial ;-)