Max Verstappen confirms he had alternative motive for kind Sergio Perez gesture
Max Verstappen has confirmed that the real reason he offered to let Sergio Perez come in first during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was to give himself the best possible chance of breaching the 1000 laps led mark for the 2023 season.
The Dutch driver dominated last season, taking 19 Grand Prix victories from a possible 22, breaking countless records in the process. Even more impressive was Verstappen’s consistency after Checo’s second and final win of the year in Azerbaijan.
After losing out to his team-mate on the streets of Baku, Verstappen won 17 of the remaining races with his only hiccup coming off the back of a Q2 exit at the Singapore Grand Prix, which was eventually won by Ferrari and Carlos Sainz.
In a conversation with the German newspaper Blick, Verstappen was asked why in Abu Dhabi he decided to play the team game and let Perez come in for his pit stop first. He replied: “Well, it was simple. I wanted to stay out longer so as not to jeopardise my 1000 laps in the lead.”
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Fortunately for Verstappen, his strategic play worked out in his favour. He took the chequered flag at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi to round off his title-winning season in style, leading the rest of the field across the line for the 1,003rd time in 2023.
This was more than three times the total laps led that the entire rest of the field managed last year with team-mate Perez registering the second-highest total with 146 laps. No other driver reached a century of laps at the front. Sainz was joined by Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton as the only others to surpass ten laps at the head of the field.
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While Verstappen’s thoughtfulness in Abu Dhabi was calculated, he has been more receptive to playing the team game this season. The three-time world champion backed off to attempt to slipstream Checo in Las Vegas during the penultimate round of the season as the Mexican attempted to defend second place from Leclerc.
These efforts show a more harmonious relationship between the pair than in 2022 when Verstappen refused to concede position to his team-mate on the final lap in Brazil. This eventually cost Red Bull a first-ever one-two finish in the Drivers’ Championship as Perez ended the year just three points behind Leclerc in the standings.
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