Despite the consecutive 1-2 finish in Saudi Arabia, things at Red Bull are heating up. All doesn’t seem well between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The first instance this season was seen in Bahrain when Max questioned his engineer’s command, and now recently in Saudi Arabia as the Dutchman went ahead with the fastest lap of the race, disputing the team’s orders, delivering a surprise blow to his Mexican teammate.

The tensions first arose last year when many media houses claimed Sergio Perez deliberately crashed his RB18. Nothing has been the same since, and the once-buzzing bromance between the two teammates has turned salty, hinting at possibly the only rivalry that can save this season from turning into a boring one. This heat is coming to remind Christian Horner and the squad of the return of the Multi-21 incident and, incidentally, it’s been 10 years since this happened. 

Reflecting on the current brewing situation at Red Bull, former F1 pilot, Robert Doornbos, as quoted by Motorsport, said, “Obviously, many things have been broken there since Monaco last year, where Pérez also admitted that he deliberately put the car on the wall to affect the classification. That doesn’t sit well with Max and I don’t think with his father and the team around.”

“Then you really get into the black book. So you always want to beat your teammate. I don’t think they are really friends. That is not necessarily necessary to be successful, but actions like this do not help, which Pérez has done in the past. Max did that in Brazil, so it will be more embarrassing for the team than for anyone else. They need to keep those pilots under a little control”.

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The challenge, as highlighted above, will be to contain the fight so that it doesn’t affect the outings on the weekends. Otherwise, given Max’s history, he isn’t one to back out, and certainly, much like Daniel Ricciardo in the past, Sergio Perez wouldn’t budge either.

Max Verstappen is truly a champion

Max Verstappen, despite issues occurring in his car, went ahead for the fastest lap, only to stay a point clear of his teammate in the drivers’ championship. The driver pushed his RB19 to the brim and got what he wanted after denying the team’s orders.

According to Doornbos, it was a true display of a champion driver. He said, “Max’s confidence in his abilities is shown with such a fast lap time. Pérez simply listened very well to the team, does his thing and also wants not to risk that victory. But that’s the difference between a world champion and a good grand prix driver.”

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Tensions are high. With Max not listening to his engineer, chances are that Checo too might not pay heed to his staff if a critical situation arises. Certainly, the fight for the championship is on, and it’s just the Red Bulls competing.