Red Bull drivers on Lap 1 battle: ‘Don’t make this a big story’

In the post-sprint race press conference, both drivers commented calmly on their battle against each other on Lap 1. Verstappen was the first to comment saying: "I mean, it's wet so you cannot drive on the normal line anyway because there's less grip there. That's why also turn three and four, especially the outside in the beginning, have more grip. So that's where you want to be with the car anyway and then of course when it dries up you start to move more and more to the inside."

Perez continued: "Nothing really to add. I think we’ve spoke about it, you know, first lap, it's always tricky in these conditions. So yeah, there is no issues."

"Didn't realize that Max was pretty much alongside me and that he was into the grass. The visibility was quite poor, although it wasn't raining that much on those first laps. Although I was leading, it was quite hard to see behind, when I realized that Max was there, it was just a little bit too late. Yesterday I got caught up with it, unfortunately, but I think this weekend has been more solid than the last few." the Mexican driver added.

Response to the media

Both drivers wanted to underline that this incident does not influence the team, nor them. Following the sprint, the defending world champion Verstappen said: "We also, we don't need to make this a big story, you know. It's what happens sometimes. We talk about it, we clear it and that's fine, you know. That's how human beings work sometimes. You question, you answer, solve it, done and then you don't need to write a whole article about it, I hope or maybe you can to get the clicks if you want."

Perez also commented ironically to the fuss the media could create after their battle. "The race was too boring, so this might be the story. Make a big article about it."