Sergio Perez calls for Red Bull review over mixed radio messages

Red Bull star Sergio Perez is furious with his own team after being given different messages to those conveyed to his teammate.

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – MARCH 19: Race winner Sergio Perez of Mexico and Oracle Red Bull Racing attends the press conference after the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on March 19, 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez isn’t happy with his own team despite securing a comfortable victory on Monday.

The Red Bull star has been left fuming with the pit wall after teammate and two-time world champion Max Verstappen pinched the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

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The constructors champions flexed their muscles once more as they claimed a second-straight one-two finish, this time with Perez edging out Verstappen.

Perez however took issue with the communication that was being given to him during the latter stages of the race.

Holding his teammate at bay by over five seconds, Perez snapped back at his pit wall after being called to maintain his pace.

The Mexican questioned the directive given to him as he hit back and asked if the same message had been given to his teammate.

But it was in the final laps when Verstappen once again put himself above the team and his teammate.

After asking about the fastest lap, the message back to him was they were “not worried about that” before Verstappen responded “but I am” and put the foot down over the final lap to steal it from Perez.

Tensions between the pair continue to simmer. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Tensions between the two simmered throughout the 2022 season with things boiling over during the Brazilian Grand Prix.

After the race the tension between the pair was at breaking point as Perez questioned Verstappen in the cooldown room.

“Were you not told to keep the pace?” Perez pointedly asked his teammate.

Speaking to reporters after the victory the frustration was evident with the 33-year-old star.

“I asked two laps from the end when they told me to keep a certain pace,” Perez told the media in Saudi Arabia.

“They told me I had the fastest lap and to keep the pace at a certain pace. I thought the communication was the same to Max, I think we need to review the different information and I just couldn’t push then in the end.”

Different messages for both drivers. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Perez was pressed if he was happy with how the communication among the team had unfolded and asked if he liked them letting the drivers race despite a large lead in hand.

“Obviously, they have more information than us and I think the team did a fantastic job of letting us race,” he said.

“I just felt like there was a point where, for the last 10 laps or so, we had very similar pace – within a tenth faster or slower. I just felt like the gap, it would have been probably a little bit less or a little more, but it wouldn’t have changed anything.

“I was just thinking about the car and just making sure … I was having some strange vibrations and obviously, what happened to Max was on the back of my mind today and I’m sure it was on the back of the mind of the team as well. So it was just a matter of making sure both cars finished to maximise maximum points.”