F1 2023 Red Bull | Max Verstappen defiance softens ‘significant’ Sergio Perez blow at Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

As a result, both drivers – who were about five seconds apart and some 20 seconds up the road from the rest of the field – were instructed to slow down and nurse the cars to ensure both made the chequered flag.

Perez complied, but Verstappen stayed silent on the radio. As the gap dropped close to four seconds, Perez said pushing was “not smart to do”.

“We are pushing without reason, guys,” he said. “We don’t really need this.”

But still Verstappen pushed. Perez was let off the leash on lap 43.

Meanwhile, Verstappen said nothing on the radio until lap 45 when he asked what the fastest lap was, which at the time belonged to Perez.

“We are not concerned about that at the moment, Max,” came the response from his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.

Verstappen’s reply was telling: “Yeah, but I am.” 

Verstappen did indeed set the fastest lap on the final tour, ensuring he would score the extra point and retain the lead of the drivers championship.

In an interview with Dutch publication Formule1.nl, Max’ father Jos – who snubbed celebrating the Perez victory as the cars pulled into parc ferme after the chequered flag – later took another swipe at the Mexican.

“I just knew he was going to do it [get the fastest lap],” Verstappen said.

“Nice, is it not? That way he will at least remain leader in the championship.

“Of course we all want to win but that was not possible today. The margin was too small today. I don’t think he [Perez] gets the chance that often. He sees that too and then goes for it.

“It went against us in qualifying. Bad luck, I won’t go into that. We know what it is. Max just easily drives to that pole position. And then the race is a bit easier.

“Because we actually predicted it is quite difficult to come forward here. This is a track with long turns, it’s hard to make a difference there. We need more difficult circuits and more corners.”

Starting from pole, Perez lost out on the start to the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, but once he got past, he was easily able to extend his lead.

A mid-race safety car to fetch Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin nullified the advantage and brought Verstappen more or less onto Perez’ rear.

From the restart though, Perez was able to open up the lead, and it was 5.5 seconds when Verstappen passed Alonso for second at turn 1 on lap 25.

Many from there would have expected Verstappen to easily drive up to the back of Perez and pass him, but Perez was able to easily maintain the gap.

The transcripts showed Perez was receiving regular updates about the gap, and was then able to adjust his pace accordingly, ensuring the gap remained around five seconds throughout the closing stages of the race.

It was Perez’ fifth victory, his second in Jeddah, and his first with Max Verstappen in second place.

In his column for Sky Sports, pundit Martin Brundle said it was that final point that was “significant” in the context of the intra-team rivalry.

“Perez out front matched whatever Verstappen could muster speed-wise and duly won the race in fine style,” he said.

“Verstappen stole the fastest lap championship point on the final tour and that clearly annoyed Perez, who was surprised the team didn’t call off the fight when they had a one-two easily in the bag and he was suffering with a longer brake pedal, and unbeknown to him, Max was feeling a vibration in his transmission.

“Team Verstappen were perhaps surprised that Perez could match their pace, and they were no doubt annoyed that it was ultimately the qualifying car issue which prevented Max setting a new record of 16 victories in 21 races.”

The next race on the Formula 1 calendar is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on April 2.

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