Photo Credit: AP
At the start of the sprint race of the Austrian Grand Prix, the fight between Checo Perez and Max Verstappen took center stage, with Nico Hulkenberg benefiting the most.
With poor traction at the start, the Formula 1 championship leader gave up his place to Perez, who seized the opportunity to take the lead.
However, the Dutchman did not relent, and decided to engage in a fight with his Red Bull teammate, regaining the lead, albeit expressing his displeasure over team radio at how the Mexican defended.
"He pushed me off, what the f**k," complained Verstappen.
Perez took to the radio himself, wondering just what had gotten the Dutchman so wound up.
"What's wrong with Max?" Perez asked.
Verstappen and Perez discuss the lap one incident
In the end, Verstappen dominated the Austrian GP sprint race and, after the chequered flag fell, he caught up with his teammate to discuss what had happened.
"It was a good start and I had a bit of a fight with Verstappen, although I ended up losing the position to Hulkenberg," Perez later explained.
"He was very strong in the first laps and it was difficult to pass him.
"In Turn 3, Max was angry that I went inside in Turn 2, but I didn't see him.
"I had just had a bad Turn 1, so I tried to protect myself. Once I realized he was there, I opened the door and then regained the position in Turn 2."
After what happened, the 33-year-old from Guadalajara put the matter behind him and insisted that he made it right.
"Everything is fine, we already talked about it, because the visibility in Turn 1 and Turn 2 was very bad," he concluded.
"Once I passed Nico it was all about managing the tyres to make sure we got to the end, otherwise it would have been very easy to be out, so I just focused on bringing the car home.
"Yesterday we had problems with the track limits. But, the potential of the car is there.
"If we had kept the position on the first lap, I had a chance to go for the win."
