Sergio Perez says he has been given Red Bull’s full support to chase victories this season despite the team orders employed at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Red Bull told Perez not to overtake Max Verstappen in the first half of the race despite having already let his teammate through earlier and being the quicker car while Verstappen was stuck behind George Russell. Later in the race, that courtesy was not returned to Perez when he was told to move over for Verstappen to allow the defending champion to cruise to victory. After requesting talks with team management about its decisions, Perez says Red Bull is behind him trying to win races too.
“We spoke after the race and I felt during the race that we could have given a better shot at the two-stop strategy to see if it could work or not, which the team took onboard,” Perez said. “At the end of the day it was clear that the three-stop was the way to go. We both agree on the same page and we move on.
“It’s a great atmosphere at Red Bull — we have great momentum. At the end of the day it was a great team result, and they made it clear that I have the full support of the team to see me winning.”
Perez says it’s not a scenario that had been openly discussed prior to the start of the year and that both sides could have handled the situation better in Barcelona.
“Not really coming into the season, more about the race. Obviously when you are in the car you have certain information, the team has a wider picture. In the car at the time it felt like we could have done a better job, especially in the second stint, going to the two-stop strategy to see if it could work or not. But it was clear that the three-stop was the way forward, it was better to go that way.
“We spoke after the race and it’s all clear and we all agree that we could have done a better job in that stint to give a better shot to both strategies to see which one worked. At the end of the day it’s a great team result and it’s a great momentum behind Red Bull at the moment.”
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