Surprise at Red Bull: 'Team can't press pause button'

Mark Webber thinks Red Bull Racing handled the problems between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the Brazilian Grand Prix wisely. Speaking to Speedcafe.com, the former Formula 1 driver says the team probably did not know the situation was coming.

The Mexican hoped to overtake his teammate in the closing stages of the Brazilian race weekend to keep Charles Leclerc ahead in the world championship. Verstappen, however, refused to do so, causing an argument between the two men afterwards.

Webber felt Red Bull's team was struggling at the time. "[The team] can't press the pause button in the middle of the race. The communication with Max in Brazil seemed to surprise him somewhat," stated Webber, who was himself under contract to the Austrian racing stable between 2007 and 2013.

For Red Bull, there was nothing else to do but engage with the drivers. "It was dealt with internally post-race. Trying to talk to the driver with the helmet on in the last laps of the race to try and get the full picture of what was going on is not always easy."

For now, it did not come out what Perez and Verstappen said to each other, but Webber thinks that is more than logical. Indeed, the Australian believes that the team does not need to disclose everything publicly. "There are some things that should remain private within the teams," he said.