Compliments for Verstappen and Perez: 'That's quite difficult to execute'

Max Verstappen will start from first on the grid at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He owes that spot in part to Sergio Perez, who sacrificed himself to help his teammate in qualifying.

The Mexican is 28 points behind his rival Valtteri Bottas, preventing him from finishing third in the world championship. In qualifying, he therefore decided to help Verstappen by giving him a tow, so that the Dutchman had enough speed to secure pole.

NOS' Louis Dekker believes it was impressive what Perez showed to the outside world on Saturday afternoon. "Perez has sacrificed himself nicely to give Verstappen some wind," he stated. "That's quite difficult to execute, but they did that very well. It was nice teamwork."

Tyre strategy can make the difference

Jan Lammers, who was interviewed in the same article, thinks that it will come down to tyre strategy. As Verstappen will start on the softest compound, he will be a lot quicker than Hamilton in the early stages. However, the Red Bull Racing driver will have to pit sooner, while the Briton is expected to be able to last longer.