Max Verstappen was furious with Sergio Perez for the qualifying controversy he caused, which resulted in him failing to secure a good spot.
The actions resulted in the Dutchman settling for third-best for Sunday. He is behind both the Mercedes cars, and more crucially, behind title rival Lewis Hamilton.
During qualifying, Perez was ahead of Verstappen, having been sent out early by Red Bull to give a tow to the championship leader. However, he went off the track after a distraction from the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.
The incident affected Verstappen, who was behind Perez on track. The Mexican went off the circuit in the middle sectors, and the happenings saw the Dutchman arrive to a scene of problems. He expected a yellow flag and lifted off, effectively ruining his session.
Verstappen was furious with Perez for the qualifying controversy he caused, and made sure to make his feeling known. He did not reveal who his comments were directed towards.
After his lap was ruined, Verstappen got on the team radio and yelled, “Honestly, what an idiot!” as quoted by formula1news.co.uk.
It’s unclear who the target for his words was. It could have been Tsunoda, because calling your own teammate an idiot is not ideal. However, given Perez was the one at fault, it may as well have been him.
Frustrations
Speaking after qualifying, an annoyed Verstappen highlighted how the incident made him lose out on his session.
“Yeah, it seemed like through qualifying the balance went away a little bit,” he said.
“But then on the last lap, I was on for a good lap, but I don’t know what happened in front of me, but there was two guys going off in front of me.
“So I thought there was going to be a yellow flag, so I backed out and of course the lap was destroyed,” he continued.
Read more: Verstappen suggests he won’t let Perez win home race – “Of course I had it at the Dutch GP”