Verstappen defends Perez: 'I fully understand he tried'

Max Verstappen took an extremely dominant win in the Mexican Grand Prix. The contrast with Sergio Perez could not have been greater: he recorded a DNF after a first lap incident. Verstappen fully understood the action of his teammate, who afterwards also recognised himself that it was a little too eager.

Verstappen shows understanding for Perez

"I understand because, I mean, it's his home Grand Prix. He wants to be on the podium," explained Verstappen after the F1 race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. "I fully understand that he went around the outside and he tried. Looking at, of course, the footage, he could have left a little bit more space. But at the other end, if it would have worked, it would look amazing."

He continued: "I think it's just more like that excitement of wanting to be on the podium. And this time it didn't work out, unfortunately." Charles Leclerc was booed by Mexican fans for the incident with Perez, but the home hero stressed that it was not the Ferrari driver's fault.

Verstappen did not see much of the incident at the time. "At the time I didn’t really see a lot. At one point, I saw a car flying in the air, but then I saw the footage after the race and then it's you can comment on it. But while driving it's a bit hard, because I was mainly focusing on Charles because I couldn't see what was happening on the outside."