Tension Within Red Bull: Max Verstappen Forced To Give Up Saudi Arabian GP Victory
Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan claims Red Bull let Sergio Perez win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and told Max Verstappen to hold off.
The Mexican driver started the race in pole position and went on to take the top spot on the podium for the first time this season. Perez's teammate, Verstappen, made his way up the field after starting in fifteenth place due to a driveshaft issue taking him out of qualifying. The Belgian-Dutch driver managed to finish in second but there was a touchy moment in the last laps of the race where Verstappen was told to stick to a certain lap time which he was ignoring.
During an interview with OLBG, Jordan explained that he thinks it was set up from Red Bull's side. He said:
"I'm a bit concerned because under normal circumstances, Max Verstappen would have won Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. I think there was an agreement to let Sergio Perez win the race if he had pole and led the race the whole time.
"What would happen to the team if they didn't let Perez win? If I was Checo, I would not have let Verstappen pass.
"I think it was agreed that if Verstappen made it to second and Perez was still first, he would let him win the race.
"Was I surprised to hear Verstappen complain about a driveshaft? No. If you have 15 laps to go and there's a problem with the driveshaft, then it's going to break, and you heard the engineers say to Verstappen that the car was fine and under control, I think there was a message there.
"I'm probably trying to see behind-the-scenes, but I think Verstappen would have won the race if he was allowed to fight for it."