F1: Bourdais slams Perez for 'dirty trick' tactics

(GMM) Former F1 driver Sebastien Bourdais has slammed Red Bull and Sergio Perez for interfering in the world championship fight last Sunday.

Red Bull and new world champion Max Verstappen hailed Mexican Perez’s efforts in supporting the team by deliberately holding up Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi.

Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda leads Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W12 during the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina Circuit on December 12, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

“That was BS,” Bourdais, a 42-year-old IndyCar driver who raced for Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso before he was ousted in mid 2009, said.

“I can’t begin to understand how Perez can be happy with himself and how people applaud him for what he did,” the Frenchman added.

Bourdais says Perez used “every dirty trick” to try to “impede Hamilton”.

“Zero sportsmanship – from the whole team really,” he explained.

Bourdais even rejected criticism that he is biased against the energy drink company by insisting that it’s “totally unrelated” and he was “never a Red Bull guy” anyway.

“They completely sacrificed Perez’s race to put him in that position. Purposely losing seconds per lap to impede.”