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Was this Verstappen's motivation? 'Perez put him in the wall on purpose'
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen indicated via the team radio that he "had his reasons" for not passing teammate Sergio Perez at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Dutchman remains cryptic, but Tom Coronel thinks he knows what those reasons are.
In the Viaplay broadcast, Coronel suggests that Verstappen still had a score to settle with his teammate for something that happened earlier in the season. "There is one more point that I know still needs to be put right, and that is qualifying in Monaco," the analyst began.
Verstappen had a bone to pick with Perez
In the qualifying session in question, Perez was on pole but ended up in the wall while Verstappen was on a flying lap. He had to abort that as a result and there was too little time to make another attempt. Coronel continued: "That's where Perez made a mistake. He took pole position with that and seriously pegged his teammate. He just deliberately put him in the wall."
Telegraph journalist Erik van Haren confirmed Coronel's suggestion on Twitter. "Pérez deliberately crashed in Monaco in qualifying and later admitted as much to Helmut Marko and Christian Horner. Max Verstappen has not forgotten that," Van Haren said.