Max Verstappen’s camp ‘angry’ with Rosberg as Red Bull demand emerges

F1 season preview as Max Verstappen looks to defend world title

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Max Verstappen’s entourage are reportedly unhappy with former F1 world champion Nico Rosberg, who laid into the Dutchman in Saudi Arabia last weekend. Verstappen had to settle for second behind team-mate Sergio Perez, with the Drivers’ Championship finely balanced after two races.

The reigning double world champion’s competitive streak returned to the fore in Jeddah, where things generally didn’t go his way. His preparation was seemingly doomed from the start after arriving one day later than planned, following his recovery from a stomach bug. 

Things went from bad to worse in qualifying as a driveshaft failure left him 15th on the grid. A Safety Car did improve his prospects of winning Sunday’s Grand Prix but he ultimately failed to close the gap on Perez, who made it one victory apiece in 2023. 

After the race, Verstappen told reporters: “I recovered to second which is good, and in general the whole feeling in the team, everyone is happy, but personally I’m not happy, because I’m not here to be second.”

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Rosberg interpreted the comments as showing that Verstappen is not a team player, with the 25-year-old also causing controversy for snatching the fastest-lap point on the final lap of the Grand Prix. “I think that’s weak at first,” the former Mercedes star told Sky Sport F1.

“What kind of sign is that for the whole team? It is not good to see [Verstappen’s reaction] really. Also, [on Saturday], he left the track very quickly and skipped the team meeting apparently, that is what we have been told.

“That is not a good approach, not a good mentality this early in the season when the team has done such a brilliant job with the car and is working so hard. He could be a little bit more gracious, I would say.”

According to Sport1, Red Bull have not taken Rosberg’s words well and members of Verstappen’s camp are now ‘angry’ at the German. Instead of skipping the team meeting, the report indicates that Red Bull instead demanded Verstappen to go back to the hotel in order to continue his recovery from illness.

Tensions are rising between Perez and Verstappen, with the Mexican admitting in a social media post this week that he ‘wants to be champion’. Red Bull seemingly told him to tweak the message, however, as it was deleted before being toned down. 

Perez finished almost 150 points behind his team-mate last season but he has already declared how comfortable he is with this year’s car by comparison. Verstappen came within a few seconds of him in Jeddah but ultimately downed tools when he realised that he would not be able to catch up before the chequered flag.

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