Max Verstappen ignored an order from his Red Bull team to let Sergio Perez past at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was told to allow his team-mate to move past on the final lap, after the Mexican had done the same a few laps earlier. That was so he could try to catch Fernando Alonso, but he was unable to so the team wanted him to give sixth place back.
"Max, let Checo through please," said his race engineer. And at the end of the race when he had not obliged, he asked the racer what had happened. Verstappen replied: "I told you already last summer, guys, don't ask that again to me. Okay? Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons, and I stand by it."
Red Bull made the call to ask Verstappen to let Perez past as the Mexican is chasing second spot in the drivers' standings. With Charles Leclerc finishing fourth, it was a case of damage limitation for Perez.
Verstappen has already secured the drivers' title and so the extra points make no difference for him. But just one point separates Perez and Leclerc in the battle for second spot, meaning this could make the difference in the team's push for a 1-2 in the drivers' championship for the first time in their history.
Perez was clearly deeply unimpressed with his team-mate's refusal to let him past. "Thank you for that guys, thank you," he told the team over the radio, before adding: "This shows who [Verstappen] really is." No doubt the post-race debrief will be an awkward one.
Verstappen had clashed with Lewis Hamilton early in the race, which left him with a damage front wing and forced him to drop to the back of the pack. He made his way back up, but neither of the Red Bull cars were able to make much of an impression on the race, which was won for the first time by George Russell.
Fans on social media were quick to react to the incident. Harry Smith wrote: "Pathetic from Verstappen at the end. Checo has obeyed team orders on so many occasions with no resistance. He can't even do it once. Showing his ugly side once again."
Anna Sinclair said: "Perez has been nothing except a team player, a good old pal for Verstappen. This is clearly not intelligent to behave like that. You need an entire team to win races and championships." And Joe Krishnan added: "Just goes to prove once and for all, Max Verstappen is a horrible team-mate."
