Perez: Verstappen was “angry” about first lap, blames ‘bad visibility’

Perez took the lead from reigning world champion Verstappen at the first corner and then appeared to edge his teammate onto the grass on the run to Turn 3. 

Verstappen fought back to reclaim the lead at Turn 3 but forced Perez wide in the process, with the Mexican losing a position to Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg. 

Perez, who went on to finish second behind his teammate, expressed his anger with Verstappen over team radio, while Verstappen said Perez’s move out of Turn 1 was “really not OK”. 

"It was a good start,” Perez said. “A bit of a fight with Max - ended up losing a place to Nico. He was very strong in the first few laps and it was hard to get by him.

"I think Max was angry that I went into Turn Two. But I didn't see him there. I had a bad Turn One, so I tried to protect.

"One I realised he was there, I opened the door and gave the place back into Turn Two. But it was all fine, we spoke about it.

"Although we were 1-2, it was very bad the visibility out there.”

Verstappen described the first lap as “hairy” but said the pair had since discussed it and moved on. 

"The start wasn't ideal, a bit of wheelspin.

"But after lap 1 when we got back into the lead it was just about managing the tyres, knowing if it wasn't going to rain any more that 24 laps on intermediates was quite long.

"The slicks were quite a bit faster the last five laps but for us so far in the lead it didn't make sense to pit. We just hung in there.

"It was a little bit of a hairy moment out of Turn One. When you get forced onto the grass it's very slippery but we managed to keep control and from there we just did our race again."

Verstappen and Perez later downplayed their first-lap tussle in the press conference.