“There has to be trust issues there”: David Croft smells some leftover problems between Red Bull teammates Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen


“There has to be trust issues there”: David Croft smells some leftover problems between Red Bull teammates Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen

The 2022 Formula 1 season is over and done with, but the remnants of it are still a hot topic amongst the F1 town. The recently-concluded Championship gave rise to some newfound rivalries amongst the competitors as well as teammates, and this season also showed the fans who are the actual underdogs of the grid. While Alpine had struggled during pre-season testing, as their Team Principal Laurent Rossi said, the French team came out in P4 in the end, usurping McLaren from their position. And Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez gave hints of some troubles in their team dynamics, thanks to a few isolated incidents.

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While Max Verstappen had won the World Drivers’ Championship title in Japan with four races still remaining in the roster, the fight for the second spot was not that smooth and easy for his teammate Sergio Perez. The Mexican had previously suffered some engine failures resulting in early race retirements, and thus he was in a tough contest with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who also aimed for the best-of-the-rest position after Verstappen. But at the Brazilian GP, when Max Verstappen refused to let Perez go past him despite knowing how important that one rank was for his teammate, it became clear that the Dutchman was not here to help.

Max Verstappen’s reluctance to help Sergio Perez get his second place finish in the World Championship despite the fact that Checo had been instrumental in his getting the 2021 title proves that the relationship between the two teammates has somewhat soured. While Red Bull have downplayed the whole situation, and the two drivers have agreed that they will move past their problems, David Croft believes they are making it simpler than it really is.

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David Croft believes Sergio Perez will not let go of his grudge against Max Verstappen this easily

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez

In his two years with Red Bull, Sergio Perez has gone above and beyond doing what was asked of him, that is, to help Max Verstappen win the World Championship. He kept a charging Lewis Hamilton at bay at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP so that his teammate could snatch the top position in the Standings. But when it came to Max to repay the favor, the Dutchman simply did not give his position back to Sergio Perez and in the end, the Mexican lost out to Charles Leclerc and settled for P3 in the World Championship.

According to David Croft, the end-of-season friction between the two Red Bull teammates will resurface in the next year. He said, “There has to be trust issues there. You need to be able to trust your team and as a driver, trust your team-mate. Whatever went on in Monaco, and the assumption is that there was something about Checo’s crash that wasn’t misfortune, shall we say? If it wasn’t an act of misfortune, there is a trust issue there.”

David Croft also brought up the Monaco crash between Max and Sergio, which has given the fans a solid proof that all is not going well between the two teammates. Now, it only remains to be seen if they can work their way past their issues or if the rivalry takes a major form and fans witness another Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg incident in F1 2023.

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