Angry Max Vestappen Says Criticism of His F1 Actions at Brazil Affecting 'Mum, Girlfriend'

• Red Bull insists it had "not agreed a strategy" prior to the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix race that involved Max Verstappen moving over for Sergio Perez.

• A defiant Verstappen refused to let Perez, who is fighting for second place in the F1 Drivers' Standings, pass late in the Brazilian GP.
  

• Since the episode, many people have been referring back to the onboard footage of Perez's Monaco crash and wondering if the Perez may indeed have faked the crash—and triggered Verstappen's ire.

The Red Bull team arrived in Abu Dhabi determined to move on from a major spat involving team orders between its two Formula 1 drivers.

In a statement, the dominant 2022 team insisted it had "not agreed a strategy" prior to the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix race that involved Max Verstappen moving over for Sergio Perez.

"This put Max, who has always been an open and fair team player, in a compromising situation with little time to react which was not our intention," Red Bull Racing added.

The team says the matter has now been discussed and cleared up and "no further comment will be made."

Two-time F1 world champion Verstappen, however, is furious that the episode made him look "very bad" as a team player—and hit out at the media for fanning the flames of subsequent abuse.

"All the things I've read are pretty disgusting," Verstappen said. "They started attacking my family, threatening my sister and my mum, my girlfriend, my dad. When your own sister writes you that it's getting way too much and you have to do something about it, I think that says enough."