Max Verstappen says he was very much aware of Sergio Perez’s looming presence behind him at the start of the Miami Grand Prix, insisting his Red Bull teammate’s lock-up into Turn 1 “could have ended in disaster”.
Sensing an opportunity as Ferrari's Charles Leclerc had a sluggish start, Perez who had launched his race from fourth on the grid lunged for the inside line to snatch second place behind his teammate Max Verstappen.
However, the audacious move turned risky when the Mexican locked up as he entered the first corner and nearly collided with the back of Verstappen's car as they both navigated the tight right-hander.
Perez ended up running wide across the tarmac run-off area, rejoining the race in fifth place.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner acknowledged the risky maneuver which he attributed to Leclerc’s weak start. The Briton was relieved to see both of the team’s cars escape the tricky situation unscathed.
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"His start was optimistic. Charles didn't have a great start ahead, I think that caused Checo... he had to lift for Charles and then he had a window into the first corner," explained Horner.
"He went for it, obviously got in very deep and was lucky not to collect Max at the first turn and not to collect the Ferrari coming back onto the track.
"So I was pleased to see most cars survive that."
As Verstappen took command of proceedings, the Dutchman was acutely “aware” that a ruinous disaster had been narrowly avoided.
"I was very aware. I turned in and I saw him lock up," he said. "And I looked after the race, there was like a scratch on my diffuser. So something must have hit.
"But yeah, it was very close. Could have ended in a disaster of course, for the team as well. So yeah, lucky."
©RedBull
Reflecting on the near miss with his teammate, Perez acknowledged the inherent risk he took, especially considering the precarious nature of Turn 1.
The corner had already claimed a victim earlier in the weekend, when a similar maneuver by Lewis Hamilton at the start of Saturday’s sprint event led to a melee that eliminated McLaren’s Lando Norris.
"I had a good start, Charles had a really bad start, but as soon as I brake into the inside there was no grip, like with Lewis [Hamilton] yesterday [in the Sprint]," Perez explained.
"And offline there was no grip, and I ended up locking. I nearly took Max out. So I had to come off the brake and I lost a position to Oscar.
"It was quite unfortunate, but other than that, I think, we were struggling for some pace today. We just couldn't manage to get a pace where we needed and, yeah, something that we got to work on to try and understand why, what was the issue."
Perez concluded his afternoon in fifth position, but gained a spot in the race’s final classification following Carlos Sainz’s time penalty and demotion from P4 to P5.
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