“You’re Friends Now, F*ckers?”: Sergio Perez Rubs Salt Into the Wound for Carlos Sainz by Bringing Up Unpleasant Memories

An incident-riddled qualifying session in Miami came to an end with Sergio Perez taking the pole position, the third one in his career. The Spanish duo of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz will start the Miami GP in P2 and P3 respectively, and after qualifying, Perez went over to the two of them to remind them about their crash a month ago.

Alonso and Sainz were talking to each other after getting out of the car when pole-sitter Perez walked towards them, covered his mouth, and jokingly asked, “You’re friends now, F*ckers?” Perez was heard saying this on video, which was shared by many on social media, including a user named Iciee.

Here’s the clip

Checo in Spanish: “You’re friends now fuckers? (jokingly to Alonso and Sainz) Hahaha”#MiamiGP #F1 @F1 pic.twitter.com/ysKeXQZgcN

— Mate | Yo Pierre (Gasly) You wanna come out here (@Iciee_) May 6, 2023

Of course, Perez’s intention wasn’t to gaslight the incident that could have potentially affected Alonso’s podium in Australia, but Sainz didn’t look too happy with the comment.

Sainz came out as the loser during his shunt with Alonso in Melbourne last month, with a five-second penalty at the restart pushing him out of the points. The Madrid-born driver wasn’t happy with that penalty, but despite his and Ferrari’s best efforts, it wasn’t overturned.

However, when Alonso and Sainz came together in Albert Park, the former didn’t blame his compatriot. Instead, he blamed the FIA for red-flagging and restarting the race with just two laps to go.

Carlos Sainz finishes P3 as Charles Leclerc crashes out

On Friday, Charles Leclerc brought out the red flag after crashing into the barriers heading into turn seven, and the Monegasque followed it up with a similar accident during qualifying on Saturday. Leclerc’s first lap in Q3 wasn’t ideal, and it kept him in P7.

During his final push lap, Leclerc lost control of his car and hit the barriers, which brought the session to an end for everyone else. The unfortunate end to what could have been a fascinating finish, reshuffled the order we are used to seeing at the end of qualifying sessions.

Carlos 🇺🇸: “This P3 is not too bad, but I feel I had very strong pace and maybe we could have fought for more.”@carlossainz55, @charles_leclerc and Fred words on today’s quali session #MiamiGP

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) May 7, 2023

Max Verstappen, who was the favorite for the pole position, will start two places behind Leclerc in P9. Meanwhile, Leclerc’s teammate found some strong pace in Q3, which puts him third on the grid, ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen in P4.

Sergio Perez with an opportunity to pass Max Verstappen

Perez took the pole position in Miami, which puts him in a commanding position to win the Grand Prix. Overtaking in Miami isn’t as easy as it can be on some other tracks, which might make Verstappen’s charge up the field from P9  difficult.

POOOOOOOOLLLLLEEE!! 💪💪 Checo is on Pole Position for the #MiamiGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/5ejAFntFba

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 6, 2023

Verstappen is currently leading the championship with 93 points to his name, but Perez is just six points behind him. If the Mexican driver can manage to hold on to his lead, and win the race, he will make a jump on the Dutchman in the standings.

Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, starts from P2 and also has his eyes set on winning the Grand Prix.