Max Verstappen lashes out at Toto Wolff over comments on Sergio Perez situation

31 August 2023 , 16:35

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Max Verstappen lashes out at Toto Wolff over comments on Sergio Perez situation

Max Verstappen blasted comments made by Toto Wolff after the Mercedes chief suggested the difference between his qualifying time and that of teammate Sergio Perez at the Dutch Grand Prix was "odd".

Verstappen took pole position at Zandvoort, much to the delight of his adoring home crowd. In contrast, Perez's best time in Q3 was 1.3 seconds slower than that set by the Dutchman, despite having the same car.

While there is nothing unusual about Verstappen out-performing his Red Bull teammate, Wolff was taken aback by the sheer size of that gap. "Odd, bizarre," was his response when asked about it after the session.

"Checo [Perez] is not an idiot," said the Austrian. "We have seen it always, he is a multiple Grand Prix winner. I cannot comprehend it. We've seen that Max has this ability to create a car for himself which is very tricky to control but fast if you can, and it makes those gaps like the 1.3 seconds. I haven't heard any explanation of course but yes, odd."

Those comments appear to have irked Verstappen somewhat. Asked for his response ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, the Red Bull racer bristled at the suggestion that the team's cars have been designed to favour him over Perez.

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"Bulls*** comments, it's not like that," he said. "I just drive the car the fastest way possible. I'm not there to tell the guys to give me more because that's how I like it. I just say, 'Design me the fastest car and I'll drive around that', because every single year, every car drives a little bit differently.

"People ask, 'What is your driving style?' My driving style is not something particular. I adapt to what I need for the car to go quickly. For me, what is very important is that you are able to adapt your driving style to what the car needs."

Meanwhile, Perez also refuted Wolff's suggestion that the gap was out of the ordinary. "I think it's hard to say, we'd have to look at it race by race. At the end of the day, sometimes the gap is bigger," the Mexican told reporters at Monza.

"For example, how it was in Zandvoort, it was mainly getting the conditions right and exploring everything out of the car – and the differences if you don't get the conditions right, you will see a big delta, so it's how it works sometimes. We've seen with other drivers those sorts of gaps.

"It's a long season in F1 and it doesn't really matter in my opinion where we are now, it only matters where we are able to finish and then we can summarise our season in Abu Dhabi. Definitely, I went through a bit of a tough patch through the middle of the season where I was struggling the most with the car, but I think that's all behind us and we should be having good races from now on."

Daniel Moxon