Max Verstappen had a chat with dad Jos after he fired shots at Red Bull over Sergio Perez

Max Verstappen makes subtle dig at Lewis Hamilton

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Max Verstappen has revealed he had a chat with his father Jos after the former F1 driver fired shots at Red Bull following last month’s Monaco Grand Prix. Verstappen senior claimed in a column he wrote that the Austrian team’s strategy during the race favoured Sergio Perez rather than his son.

The Monaco Grand Prix was raced in wet-dry conditions as Ferrari blundered with their tyre strategy, with Charles Leclerc dropping from first to fourth in front of his home fans. Perez, who had started the race in third position, was given an aggressive tyre strategy, which helped him take advantage of Ferrari’s error and win the race. Verstappen, meanwhile, climbed from fourth to third but would have missed out on a podium finish had Ferrari executed a better tyre plan.

And Jos was not happy with Red Bull as he insisted his son “was not helped in that sense by the chosen strategy.” But Verstappen junior has defended his father’s reaction following a discussion between the two.

”As my father wrote, he is not completely objective,” Max said. “He just wants to see me win. It’s his opinion. I also told my dad that Sunday’s events were a result of Saturday, when that red flag ruined my qualifying. That was the biggest problem, because in Monaco you can’t overtake. Fine, that was one race, we’ll just move on now.”

The result in Monaco means Perez is now just 15 points behind his Red Bull team-mate at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, with Leclerc in between the duo. And Jos was unable to hide his anger in the aftermath of the race.

“As a father I was also disappointed with the race,” Verstappen senior said on Verstappen.com. “Max’s third place was very disappointing. We all saw that it was a difficult weekend for him. It starts with the car, which simply doesn’t have the characteristics for his driving style yet.

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“Max has far too little grip at the front axle. And especially in Monaco, with all those short corners, you need a car that turns very quickly. That was just hard. Red Bull achieved a good result, but at the same time exerted little influence to help Max to the front.

“That he finished third, he owes to Ferrari’s mistake at that second stop of Charles Leclerc. The championship leader, Max, was not helped in that sense by the chosen strategy. It turned completely to Checo’s favour. That was disappointing to me, and I would have liked it to be different for the championship leader.”

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