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Kelly Piquet Validates Max Verstappen’s ‘Fastest Lap Snatch’ From Sergio Perez as the Dutchman Ignores Red Bull Orders

Sabyasachi Biswas
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Kelly Piquet Validates Max Verstappen’s ‘Fastest Lap Snatch’ From Sergio Perez as the Dutchman Ignores Red Bull Orders

Kelly Piquet showered all her praise for her partner Max Verstappen recently. As the Red Bull driver came from behind to finish the Jeddah race in P2, Piquet appreciated his efforts on social media. The Dutchman pulled off a stunner in the last lap after ignoring Red Bull’s orders.

The Brazilian presenter took to his Instagram to share a story about Verstappen. She posted the Dutchman driving on the last lap and crossing the finish line.

Piquet wrote, “what a drive @maxverstappen1. And snatching that fastest lap.” Admittedly, the 25-year-old ignored the team’s order to go for the fastest lap, in the end, to pick up an extra point.

Red Bull asked its drivers to maintain the pace, but the 2-time world champion had other ideas. He pulled off a stunning lap in the 50th lap and picked up an extra point. The extra point, along with points from the P2 finish, kept him in P1 in the driver’s standings.

Max Verstappen unhappy about P2

Sunday’s drive from Verstappen was an incredible one. The defending champion’s 13-place leap was one of the best in the sport in recent times. However, he was unhappy about his P2 in Jeddah.

Despite such a great race, the Dutchman had the win in his mind. But his teammate Sergio Perez had other ideas. The Mexican held off the former Toro Rosso pilot for the win. The Dutch pilot opened up about it after the race.

The 25-year-old said that he is not here to finish second. While winning the championship remains his first priority, finishing second when the championship is between two cars is not nice. However, his team principal Christian Horner dismissed his disappointments.

The Dutchman failed to repeat the 2022 Belgian GP

The 2022 Belgian Grand Prix was one of the best races in Red Bull history and, of course, for Verstappen. The man who debuted as the youngest driver on the grid pulled off a stunner in Belgium last year.

Starting from P14, the Red Bull star managed to take the win in the end. After fending off challenges from teammate Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, he finished the race 17 seconds and 26 seconds ahead of them.

With a similar target in mind, the Red Bull ace could have done better this time. As compared to P14, he started from P15 and if he would have finished on top, the Jeddah race could have been his best-ever race.

About the author

Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas

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Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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