Do you understand that Max Verstappen did not help Sergio Pérez?

Facts

While Red Bull had asked Max Verstappen to step aside in front of his teammate Sergio Pérez on the last lap of the Brazilian GP to help the Mexican in his quest for the title of vice-world champion, the Dutchman pointedly refused. A deliberate gesture which aroused the astonishment and cold anger of Pérez, who did not fail to recall the services rendered to the Dutchman over the last two seasons. Was Verstappen right not to slow down to offer two additional points to his neighbor in the garage?

YES, by Romain Bernard

Let's be serious for 30 seconds: who cares about finishing 2nd in the world championship? Not the fans. Nor the drivers, supposedly, their refrain “the 2nd is the first to lose” being served to us in all sauces all year round. The ego is therefore at the center of this bickering, Sergio Pérez being frankly stationary on the track throughout the Grand Prix.

From then on, he believed that Max Verstappen, with 10 laps to go, would wisely stay behind him without flinching, rather than overtaking him to remind him that he is not of the breed of servants. I find it extremely healthy that a double world champion does not pollute his mind with these kinds of contingencies, which would create a dangerous precedent in the future: when you are Max Verstappen's teammate, you know the rules Game.

Does dear Sergio think he is at Red Bull to aim for the world title one day or to be the Dutchman's water carrier? Here again, let's not be naive, and let's not take the bait. These pilots are not paid millions to be gentle. Max is a pit bull and walking around with him protects you as much as it exposes you.

No bones other than victory and the world crown will calm him down, so don't talk to him about giving up a 6th place for a 7th. This is not the philosophical debate. It's frankly grotesque for his engineer to have expressed this request to him. Has Ayrton Senna given up a hard-won place in the race? Certainly not ! And once the 2 world titles are distributed? Even less ! That would have amounted to insulting him.

Pérez had the same weapons as Verstappen to outrun Leclerc and his Ferrari less rapid this season. If he cannot do it alone, then Leclerc is superior to him. Which no one doubts... Unsurprisingly, Pérez will swallow his resentment as soon as the question of renewing his contract comes back on the table. The soup is good at Red Bull, you should not spit in it. Especially when it’s Verstappen who chooses who sits at his table…

NO, by Julien Billiotte

And it’s a big lover of Max the Menace who tells you so! I am the first to delight in his panache on the track, his outbursts on the microphone, his almost anachronistic extremism in a society of no wave and 0 risk.

But frankly, Max, what's the point of hanging on to a poor 6th place when the two championships have been gone for a long time? It seems that Sergio Pérez knowingly sabotaged your last attempt in Q3 in Monaco 6 months earlier. You have a stubborn grudge! As great as he is, and God knows you are Max, no driver is greater than his team. This refusal to play collective also reveals a philosophy of life which confuses team spirit with weakness.

A vision undoubtedly instilled by a father who raised him the hard way. During the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix, the Dutchman, who started in F1 that season, had refused to obey stable instructions favoring Carlos Sainz, his sidekick at Toro Rosso. " If I had let it pass, my father would have kicked me in the ass “, declared the 17-year-old teenager jokingly (half?).

Seven years and two world titles later, does Verstappen still have Jos's voice in his ear in this kind of situation? In any case, being a generational talent does not exempt you from a certain elegance. At the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix, when he was beaten by Sebastian Vettel in the title race, and the German was heading towards victory in Budapest, Lewis Hamilton had agreed to give back a position to his then teammate, Valtteri Bottas. Even if it means giving up three potentially decisive points in the championship.

If Verstappen has nothing to envy of Sir Lewis on the track, the Briton remains several steps ahead in attitude and etiquette.