(Motorsport-Total.com) – Red Bull only seems to have narrowly escaped the worst case scenario at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Miami. World Championship leader Max Verstappen’s race almost ended in the first corner – and that too because of a collision with his own teammate.
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Max Verstappen was very lucky at the start in Miami Zoom
Sergio Perez only narrowly rushed past Verstappen at the start when he braked in Turn 1. The Mexican wanted to brake past both Ferraris from fourth place on the grid, but blocked the wheels and shot towards his teammate.
He already saw the disaster coming: “Yes, I was very aware of that,” laughs the Dutchman after the race. He didn’t realize how lucky he was at the time, but after the Grand Prix he looked at his car again. And he found what he was looking for: “There was like a scratch on my diffuser. Something must have hit me.”
“It was very close and of course it could have ended in a disaster for the team. We were lucky,” he says.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner describes the Mexican’s start as “optimistic”, which was, however, also triggered by the fact that Charles Leclerc got off the line badly in front of him. “That forced Checo to lift, and it left a window open for him into the first corner,” he says.
Perez drove to the inside and, according to his own statement, no longer had any grip – similar to Lewis Hamilton in the sprint, who cleared three other cars. “And then the wheels locked,” he describes. “I almost took out Max. So I had to take off the brake.”
Sainz brings out the torpedo comparison
This was of course a shocking moment for Red Bull: “He was lucky that he didn’t clear Max in the first corner,” says Horner, “and then the Ferrari when coming back onto the track.”
Because that was also added: Perez was not only a danger to team-mate Verstappen, but also blocked the two Ferraris with his maneuver. Carlos Sainz in particular was unable to take advantage of his good start and lost positions to teammate Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who was a big beneficiary and moved up to third place.
“As they said in the good old days: Checo came at the start like a torpedo and carried almost all of us away,” complains Sainz, alluding to Sebastian Vettel, who attacked Daniil Kwjat – also a Red Bull driver at the time – because of one A torpedo was also fired during a launch maneuver in China in 2016.
“I had to avoid him and ended up fourth instead of second,” says the Ferrari driver angrily.
Vasseur: Start influenced the race
And Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur is anything but enthusiastic about the maneuver: “Perez’s start definitely influenced things,” he says Sky. “It wasn’t ideal. The race was determined by the positions on the track because it was difficult to overtake, and Carlos only lost two positions because of Perez’s attack.”
“That wasn’t good for us and for Carlos,” said Vasseur.
In the end, Sainz finished fourth, one place ahead of Perez, who did not receive a penalty for his maneuver. He’s also struggling with the race: “We had problems with the pace today,” he says. “We just didn’t manage to find the pace we needed and that’s something we need to work on.”