Red Bull 'doesn't come across very well' with Max Verstappen-Sergio Perez fiasco, says former F1 champion

Former F1 world champion Jenson Button reckons the Max Verstappen-Sergio Perez fiasco at the Brazilian GP on Sunday doesn't look good for Red Bull.

The former McLaren driver was a guest on the Sky Sports F1 show Any Driven Monday where he expressed shock at what had happened between the two Red Bull drivers at Sao Paulo. He said:

"I'm more amazed by Checo's comment, I love it, 'shows who he really is'. It's a tricky one because we just hear one side of it; we don't hear what his reasons are. It doesn't come across well, and when you hear his comments saying 'no I'm not letting him past, I've got my reasons', if we don't hear the reasons, we think Max is being selfish, he's not thinking about the team or his teammate."

Button did hint at some of the theories thrown around about what happened in qualifying at Monaco earlier in the season and that playing a role in Verstappen's decision not to let his teammate pass him. Button said:

"I did see something in the media; I don't know if it's factual, but I think he was very upset about the Monaco Grand Prix qualifying, where Checo ended up in the wall. Maybe that's his reason for not wanting to give the place up to Checo because it hurt his qualifying in Monaco, and maybe he thought Checo found the wall easier than he should have."

Button also questioned whether Red Bull had discussed this situation beforehand with Verstappen and if he had declined earlier as well. He said:

"Max could have come out of this so well, the world champion letting his teammate past so he can fight for second in the championship. You've got to ask Red Bull, if they have discussed this beforehand, as Max said then why are they asking him to do it in the race?

Verstappen (fifth) finished outside the podium in Brazil, a place ahead of his teammate Perez.

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This has resulted in a lot of negative marketing for Red Bull - Jenson Button

Button touched on how all of this was so unnecessary and has resulted in so much negative marketing for the team. He said:

"It feels like they haven't discussed it properly before the race weekend as a team and that seems like a bigger issue, it seems Red Bull have put themselves in this situation which definitely is negative marketing. It's a real shame because like I say it could have been a perfect end to the race."

He continued:

"The mistake in the early part of the race with Lewis was an incident we didn't want to see, but to come out and say, 'here you go Checo; here's a couple of points, and now you're second in the championship, we're going to finish first and second', it's awesome. But that story is not the story we have."

It will be interesting to see how Red Bull bounces back from all of this in Abu Dhabi. The team is under pressure, and all eyes will be on how they make a comeback.