Max Verstappen Refuses To Follow Red Bull Orders Again As Rift With Sergio Perez Continues

Max Verstappen denied Red Bull team orders again.

It has been revealed that Max Verstappen ignored Red Bull’s team orders to slow down before clinching F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix’s fastest lap on Sunday.

Verstappen went rogue at the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, ignoring his team’s requests to slow down before clocking the fastest lap of the race. The daring move secured Verstappen a close second place behind his teammate, Sergio Perez, and retained his one-point championship lead.

Although both Verstappen and Perez reported reliability issues towards the end of the race, Red Bull asked both drivers to adhere to a target lap time of 1m33.00s. However, Verstappen seemed to have other ideas, as he failed to respond to repeated requests to slow down from his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.

On lap 45, with five laps to go, Verstappen couldn't help but inquire about the fastest lap, something his team wasn't concerned about at the moment. But when Lambiase responded with "32.1, 32.1," it was clear that the Dutchman had his sights set on taking the fastest lap point away from Perez.

The team radio conversation goes as followed, as quoted by Crash.net:

Lap 39

GP: We will like to target a 33.0. 33.0.

GP: Max any more feedback on that issue from before?

VER: Well it's still there

GP: Yup understood. Ok target 33.0. 33.0

Lap 40

GP: That's 33.0

GP: Max, confirm 33.0

Lap 41

GP: 33.0. 33.0

Lap 43

GP: Max, can you target 33:0 please?

Lap 45

GP: Ok that’s 5 laps remaining coming up. Gap is 5+

VER: What's the fastest lap?

GP: We are not concerned about that at the moment Max.

VER: Yeah but I am.

GP: So, 32.1, 32.1. 

With the finish line in sight, Verstappen managed to post a new benchmark on the final lap of the race, securing the coveted bonus point for the fastest lap and leaving Perez fuming about the “different information” he received about the lap times. Perez's radio exchanges with his race engineer, Hugh Bird, highlighted the tension in the Red Bull garage.

This is no the first time that Verstappen has denied team orders, causing tension within the team. The Belgian-Dutch driver was asked to let Perez through during the latter stages of the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix in order to help with his fight with Charles Leclerc for second place in the drivers' standings. Despite having already won the championship, Verstappen would not let Perez back through. 

With the friction within the team rising and Perez's contract with the Austrian team expiring at the end of this season, there is a huge amount of speculation over what the Mexican driver might do next.