OPINION: Perez's title claims are unfounded after Verstappen team orders storm

A tricky afternoon in the Brazilian Grand Prix soon turned into a headache for Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner after a rather public disagreement between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Verstappen had been waved through by the slow, Medium-shod Perez to see if he could attack Charles Leclerc, who was two cars in front in P4, with the small matter of Fernando Alonso immediately ahead.

Red Bull was hoping that Verstappen could pass Leclerc and take points away from the Monegasque, who is locked in a fight for P2 in the Drivers' Championship with Perez.

Perez was powerless to make any progress of his own, with Mexican losing buckets of time compared to those ahead on Softs in the closing stages at Interlagos.

As is the norm in cases like this, Perez was told that Verstappen would let him back through for position if he did not pass Leclerc, which would have banked the Mexican an extra two points for a potential sixth place as opposed to the seventh place he occupied.

However, Verstappen flat-out refused the direct order and informed the team that he had "his reasons" - believed to stem from Monaco qualifying, where the Dutchman reportedly felt Perez crashed on purpose in Q3 to deny him a shot at Pole Position and possibly the race win.

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