Max Verstappen says a post-race discussion with Sergio Perez about incidents at the start of the sprint quickly resolved any anger at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Perez took the lead from Verstappen at Turn 1 and then appeared to force his teammate slightly onto the grass on the run out of the corner, before both went deep at Turn 3 and the Mexican had to go off, losing two positions. Each of the drivers complained about the other on team radio and Verstappen said words would be needed after the race, duly discussing the incidents in parc ferme afterwards.
“We just spoke about it, because when the moment happens you don’t know why it gets to that, but then after the race we talked about it and it’s all good,” Verstappen said after winning by over 20s.
Sat alongside his teammate, Perez explained what had happened from his point of view, saying he hadn’t been aware how quickly Verstappen had pulled alongside.
A fiery moment on track, and on the airwaves for the Bulls 🫣#AustrianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/r8pFy57Dnx
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 1, 2023
“I had a good start but then just went a bit deep into Turn 1,” Perez said. “So at the exit I was trying to protect my line and didn’t realize that Max was pretty much alongside me and that he was into the grass.
“The visibility was quite poor, and although it wasn’t raining that much on those first laps, it was quite hard to see behind. And when I realized that Max was there I was a little bit too late and I think that was it. We spoke about it after the race and it was just a bit of a shame that I lost a place to Nico (Hulkenberg), but other than that we got the maximum points for the team.”
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When it was put to Verstappen that the incident could have been more costly, he further downplayed its significance.
“It might have (cost us more), but it didn’t. We don’t need to make it a big story, you know? It’s what happens sometimes — we talk about it, we clear it and it’s fine. That’s how human beings work sometimes. You question, you answer, you solve it, done. You don’t need to write a whole article about it.”