The night of Abu Dhabi GP 2021 still lives in memory of every F1 fan. The race saw Sergio Perez defend his heart out against Lewis Hamilton so that teammate Max Verstappen could clinch his maiden world championship. However, fast forward to 2023, and things are entirely different. Safety measures have hit a new high as Verstappen gears up for the Mexico GP with heightened security. With history repeating itself at the Autodromo, what prompted such precautionary measures?

The tension revolving around Sergio Perez and the entirety of Red Bull is at an all-time high. The Mexican Grand Prix was bound to be a challenging venue for Max Verstappen and co. With the GP being Perez’s home race, and him having a very loyal and passionate fanbase. Every rival of Pere is the enemy in the eyes of his fans. As often times it has been his own teammate. And now it’s Verstappen’s turn to face the wraith of the Mexican fans.

Max Verstappen security and Sergio Perez teammate dilemma

With Max Verstappen being the victim of hateful fans at the United States Grand Prix, Perez’s fans with their heavy criticism and even death threats made it clear that he won’t have it easy at the Autodromo. Thanks to the dynamics between Verstappen and Perez being visibly broken, the Dutch driver has been facing hate and criticism from a lot of fans, especially Mexican supporters. The reason being that Verstappen did not help the Checo secure second place at the driver’s championship, in 2022.

However, turns out that this is not the first time that a teammate of Sergio Perez has had to beef up security, heading into the Mexican Grand Prix. Current Alpine driver, Esteban Ocon, had to face a similar situation. Back in 2017, upon receiving death threats, Ocon had to increase his security, heading into the Mexican Grand Prix.

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During the 2017 F1 season, the then Force India teammates, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez, were in a tough battle with each other. This is why, at Checo’s home race, the fans at the Autodromo made sure that his French teammate did not have it easy.

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It seems like a common occurrence with Sergio Perez and his fans. If his teammate decides to challenge him, he is straight away an enemy in the eyes of the supporters. It’ll be interesting to see how the dynamics will be at the Mexican Grand Prix 2023, with Max Verstappen having security beefed up.

F1 drivers and security, a not-so-common occurrence?

F1 is a sport with passionate fans. And with that, come contrasting opinions from the supporters. But unfortunately, so does an unnecessary amount of criticism and hate. This is why F1 drivers have had to beef up their security, for numerous reasons. Besides Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon, other drivers too had to deal with this unfortunate situation.

In 2016, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton had to increase his security. The reason is that one of the members of his team member robbed at gunpoint at the race in Mexico. Not the experience that the Mercedes and LH crew were expecting!

Another instance happened with the former F1 driver, Nicholas Latifi, often known as ‘GOATIFI’. The former Williams driver famously crashed at turn 14 of the track, with less than 10 laps remaining. His crash brought out the security car towards the end of the infamous finale of the Abu Dhabi 2021. The safety car played a role in Lewis Hamilton losing his deserved ‘8th’ world championship. The British fans were not happy with Latifi as he received a lot of hatred and death threats after the race. So much so that he even had to up his security for a sightseeing trip to London with his girlfriend.

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The high altitude track of the Mexican Grand Prix will not only be difficult for the F1 cars but also the drivers, specifically Max Verstappen. With passion and love for motorsport being at the core. F1 will forever remain a sport supported by passionate fans who sometimes do cross the line between support and hatred.