Toro Rosso: Verstappen was right to disobey

Max Verstappen made a superb comeback to grab eighth place at the Singapore GP after starting one lap behind following a stall at the start. The pilot Toro Rosso took advantage of safety cars and an aggressive strategy to regain positions and afford the luxury of get ahead of your teammate Carlos Sainz Jr at the arrival.

The cadet of the F1 had nevertheless received as instructions to let your teammate pass so that he could try to overtake the Force India of Sergio Pérez who was blocking the Toro Rosso. But the Dutchman protested energetically, responding with an emphatic “No!” " on the radio. “I don’t see why I should have let him pass. He wouldn't have opened the door for me if the positions had been reversed anyway.", defended the Dutchman.

Carlos Sainz Jr, however, believes that he could have been faster than his teammate. “I think I could overtake Force India, but he made his choice. I always look for the team to achieve the best result. I let it pass three or four times this year. We asked him the same thing four times and he didn't listen." replied the Spaniard to BBC Sport.

Franz Tost, Team Principal of Toro Rosso, however supports Max Verstappen. “Carlos had new tires and we thought they could change their positions. But Carlos was too slow and we later realized that Max was right. Carlos was not fast enough to catch Pérez,” concluded the Austrian.

Discover the analysis of the Singapore Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2030 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.