Max Verstappen says he is confident he will not need to move over for team mate Sergio Perez in Interlagos this weekend to support his championship position.
Verstappen has already clinched this year’s world championship title while Perez lies a distant second, 251 points behind his team mate. However Lewis Hamilton remains a threat to Perez over the final three rounds of the championship, sitting 20 points behind the second Red Bull.
The situation is similar to the one the Red Bull team mates found themselves last year, when Perez was just five points ahead of Charles Leclerc heading into the Brazilian round. But when Verstappen refused a team order to move over for Perez on the final lap of the grand prix after he had been allowed through by his team mate to attack Fernando Alonso, Perez was left fuming at the world champion.
“It shows who he really is,” Perez said of his team mate after team boss Christian Horner apologised to him over the radio on the cooldown lap.
The team mates patched up their relationship before the final round in Abu Dhabi. But heading into Interlagos this weekend, Verstappen says he feels confident he will not need to move over for his team mate this weekend.
“At the end of the day, I think that it shouldn’t always matter on me to get the points,” Verstappen said. “But I’m confident in Checo, that he can stay ahead, because I do think that, on average, we have the faster car.”
Verstappen says that the events of last season are unlikely to recur again this weekend after the team learned from the situation that played out last time they visited Sao Paulo.
“I think also last year, it wasn’t really well spoken about before we got into the race weekend,” Verstappen explained. “But let’s just hope that we don’t get into that situation, I think is better for everyone.”
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2023 Brazilian Grand Prix
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