‘It is not all about Max’: Sergio Perez makes Red Bull demand after Verstappen tensions

Last season almost went perfectly for Red Bull, with the team comfortably winning both championships while the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes struggled to get to grips with the new regulations.



The only major blip in the season came in Brazil, where a disastrous weekend was topped off with a fall out between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.



With both drivers outside of the podium places, Verstappen was asked to allow his teammate to pass him, in order to allow Perez to gain the upper hand in his battle for second place in the championship with Charles Leclerc.



The Dutchman explosively refused and despite clear hostility between the pair after the race, neither Red Bull or the drivers have expanded on the incident.







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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner explained that not everything has to be made public and insisted that clear-the-air talks had gone as planned between Verstappen and Perez.



With the team’s driver pairing unchanged going into the 2023 season, there have been suggestions that there could be some frostiness at Red Bull once again this year, something which Perez has denied.



“It is important to work as a team,” he said via GPFans.



“In that regard, it is very clear. We want to maximise the team efforts.



“It is not all about Max and myself, it is about the team. We have so many people back at the factory giving everything for us so we have to respond in that regard.”




Toto Wolff admits he’s still concerned about new #F1 teams joining https://t.co/q0YElTPiLx — Formula1News.co.uk (@Formula1newsUK) February 4, 2023




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Suggestions that Perez could be replaced midway through the season by Red Bull’s new third driver Daniel Ricciardo have quickly been shot down by the team, with Horner insisting that Ricciardo’s role with the team is very specific.



It is not just Ricciardo who is breathing down Perez’s neck should his relationship with Verstappen not improve, as McLaren’s Lando Norris has been heavily linked with a move to the energy drink giants.



Perez’s contract with Red Bull will run until the end of the 2024 season, leaving the team with a decision to make with regards to the future of their team.
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