Max Verstappen rubbishes Sergio Perez’s ‘miscommunication’ theory after taking fastest lap in Jeddah

Sergio Perez’s theory suggesting that ‘miscommunication’ caused Red Bull’s team radio confusion in Jeddah was rubbished by team-mate Max Verstappen on Thursday.

Verstappen, who recovered from 15th on the grid to finish second behind Perez at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last week, narrowly held on to his championship lead after gaining an extra point for the fastest lap in the closing stages of the race.

Perez held fastest lap with a just few laps remaining in Jeddah and was on the cusp of leading the world championship for the very first time in his career, until Verstappen capitalised on some mixed messages over Red Bull’s team radio.

After the race, Perez revealed he was told to ‘keep a certain pace’ on the final lap by his team rather than to push on and protect his fastest lap against Verstappen. 

Disappointed that the Dutchman now heads to Australia this weekend with a slender advantage in the championship, Perez initially raised concerns over his team’s intentions before chalking the incident down to ‘miscommunication’. 

Verstappen waited until the very end to nab fastest lap away from Perez, earning an extra point

He said during the build-up to the Australian Grand Prix: ‘I think it was a bit of a miscommunication between my engineer and myself.

‘I don’t think there was anything more to it. I think the team did a good job of letting us race. I spoke with my engineers and it was all clear. I had a word with Christian (Horner) after the race and it was all clear. It’s nothing big.

‘I probably regret not having a go at the fastest lap, because I thought that was the case. But at the same time it’s not that they told me something and they told me something different to Max – it was just down to us. To be honest, we’ve got a lot more respect for each other than people may think out there.

‘There is great atmosphere within the team. There is a very high level of respect between each other in the team with all the engineers from his side, my side. I think we are both mature enough to know what is right and what is wrong. I think as long as that keeps being the case, I don’t expect anything to change.’

Perez (right) raised concerns afterwards as he was told to ‘keep a certain pace’ on the last lap

The Mexican (right) has since chalked the incident down to miscommunication, prompting Verstappen (left) to rubbish the theory ahead of the Australian Grand Prix this weekend 

Despite Perez’s attempts to diffuse any tension between the Red Bull drivers, who look as it stands the most likely candidates to win the championship this season, Verstappen rubbished his team-mate’s assessment of what happened in Jeddah.

‘That was no miscommunication,’ the world champion replied when asked to weigh in Perez’s theory.

‘The same thing was also asked in Bahrain, but the other way around. In the end from our side there was no more talk about it.

‘If you look back on the first two weekends, it wasn’t [a miscommunication]. We didn’t have any additional explanation either. The positive thing is that our car is very competitive and that’s what is required to challenge for championships.’