Max Verstappen was almost taken out in the Miami Sprint Race as Sergio Perez locked up at the first corner with the Dutchman and Christian Horner grateful for the near miss
Max Verstappen and Christian Horner both admitted they were relieved not to see a crash between the two Red Bulls in Miami.
Sergio Perez locked up at Turn 1 during Saturday’s sprint race in Florida as he attempted to make a move on Charles Leclerc. His error eventually cost him as he dropped down to fifth, but as he tried to correct his error he narrowly avoided his team-mate.
Perez managed to work his way back up onto the podium as he came across the line in third. Verstappen went on to claim victory in the sprint race but all involved with Red Bull noted that the race victory could’ve ended at the first corner.
Team principal Horner said: “His start was optimistic. Charles didn’t have a great start ahead, I think that caused Checo… he had to lift for Charles and then he had a window into the first corner. He went for it, obviously got in very deep and was lucky not to collect Max at the first turn and not to collect the Ferrari coming back onto the track. So I was pleased to see most cars survive that.”
Verstappen, the championship leader, was able to smile about the incident after the race. He was asked if he knew how close Perez came to hitting him and replied: “I was very aware. I turned it and saw him lock up and looked after the race, there was a scratch on my diffuser so something must’ve hit. It was very close, could’ve ended in disaster for the team as well. So yeah, lucky.”
Perez said on the incident: “As soon as I dived [to the] inside of Charles, I could see as soon as I hit the brakes there was no grip at all, like we saw yesterday with Lewis. Off-line here, especially into Turn 1, there’s no grip, zero grip down there, and I did struggle quite a bit unfortunately.”
Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix was only the second time this season that Red Bull had been denied the race win. Lando Norris claimed the first victory of his career as he took advantage of a timely safety car before pulling away at the front for McLaren.
The British driver has previously been linked with a move to Red Bull, especially when McLaren have endured difficult periods. He is known to have a strong relationship with Verstappen and the Dutchman admitted if anyone was to beat him, he’s glad it was Norris.
“If I get beaten, it’s great that it has been done by Lando,” Verstappen said. “He deserves it. It’s been a long time coming and it’s going to be the first of many.
“Maybe it’s also a bit of relief for him that he has that win now, who knows what’s going to happen next? But for sure they had a strong weekend. Maybe it was a little bit messy still [on Saturday] but today they were flying – and especially Lando was flying. So definitely very happy for him.”
