The writers of Drive to Survive must be loving the Brazilian GP weekend so far. We are only past the sprint qualifying and there is already plenty of drama. Among the bigger incidents like Kevin Magnussen’s pole and George Russell’s sprint win, some incidents slipped through the cracks. For example, a tiff between Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Let’s recap the origin of the tension between the two before talking about the consequence. During the sprint race, Verstappen fell down the pecking order from P1 to P4. The rare slow pace of Verstappen’s RB18 saw him get overtaken by Russell, Sainz, and Hamilton. At P4, Verstappen met his teammate Perez running in fifth.

Perez communicated his wish to pass Verstappen so he can start the race at P3 and get an advantage over Leclerc in the upcoming race. Perez wanted the place advantage to improve on his five-point lead on Leclerc in the driver’s championship table.

Red Bull issued no such team orders, much to Perez’s displeasure as the two held their positions. This did not go down well with Perez looking to maintain his second spot in the championship. This surely didn’t go down well with the fans as Perez has obeyed every team order in favor of his teammate, who is a world champion already.

“Read the Room? They Don’t Care About You”: Red Bull Faces Heat As Sergio Perez Left Begging On Brazilian GP Track

Although the hints of tension did not come out in public until fans took notice of Perez and Verstappen’s social media activity.

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen aren’t friends anymore, at least on Instagram

Red Bull men, after the race, opened Instagram and communicated their vindictiveness silently through a simple gesture. The teammates unfollowed each other on Instagram. The fans caught this update thanks to the public nature of their social media activity.

The fans flooded Twitter with their reactions to the two unfollowing each other.

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Perez’s decision puzzled the fans, but many connected the dots to the incident during the sprint race.

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Petty or not, Sergio Perez subtly made his feeling known about the team orders that never came. But what do you think? Should Red Bull have let Perez and Verstappen swap positions?