Sergio Perez took an easy victory in Saudi Arabia after his teammate Max Verstappen was forced to race through the pack from 15th place after a mechanical problem forced the Dutchman to retire from qualifying.
Eddie Jordan, who founded and owned Jordan Grand Prix from 1991-2005, believes that, “under normal circumstances, Max Verstappen would have won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“I think there was an agreement to let Sergio Perez win the race if he had pole and led the race the whole time,” Jordan told OLBG.
“What would happen to the team if they didn’t let Perez win? If I was Checo, I would not have let Verstappen pass. I think it was agreed that if Verstappen made it to second and Perez was still first, he would let him win the race,” he continued.
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With reliability concerns potentially the only element that could derail an easy title victory for Red Bull in 2023, Jordan has said that he’s not surprised Verstappen was hampered by problems with his car.
“Was I surprised to hear Verstappen complain about a driveshaft? No. If you have 15 laps to go and there’s a problem with the driveshaft, then it’s going to break, and you heard the engineers say to Verstappen that the car was fine and under control, I think there was a message there.”
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“I’m probably trying to see behind the scenes, but I think Verstappen would have won the race if he was allowed to fight for it. I don’t think Max Verstappen thinks like that but I think Red Bull do,” Jordan explained.
Looking back at his own time as a Formula One team principal, Jordan stated how he had a similar deal in place between Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill during the 1998 season.
“I had to tell Schumacher to not pass Hill even though he was the quicker driver, and Hill made it very clear that if Schumacher tried to pass he would fight to keep his position,” Jordan said.