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Antonia Perez Garibay, father of Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has denied all the rumours of rift between his son and the defending F1 champion Max Verstappen. He has called out fan suggestions about Red Bull favouring Max Verstappen and sabotaging their car. Antonio ended all rumours calling them sheer lies and backed Red Bull. Not only this, but he has also called Red Bull “the best team” and denied them favouring one particular driver.
The tensions appeared to be high when Checo claimed win at the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP, marking it as the first win of the season, ahead of Max Verstappen who finished at P2 after starting at P15. Later, the Mexican racer was seen questioning engineer’s decision to put him in the slower lap, which favoured Verstappen to bridge the gap between both of them. However, Antonio has totally declined the rumours and said that there wasn’t any favouritism aimed at one particular driver.
He said, "Lies, lies, lies. That's a lie, let's be clear. Red Bull is a brand that costs many billions of dollars above Checo (Sergio Perez) and Max (Verstappen). It is a professional team that wants to win with its two drivers, they want to have lap one from practice one and they want their two drivers to be one and two."
"There is no favouritism for anyone, it's all speculation. Red Bull has the two best tigers in the same cage, if they weren't at the same level, what's going on wouldn't be there. Hopefully, more teams and drivers will join the championship. The fight won't just be between Checo and Max,” he further added.
Rumours have it that rifts arose between the F1 racers when Verstappen refused to let Perez pass in the Brazil GP. The incident left a sour taste between them, with Perez suggesting that he knew who his teammate really was. After the incident, Checo’s dad was seen questioning Verstappen’s talent. However, the Red Bull driver later clarified that the team environment is great, and both the racers have great respect between them.