Sergio Perez has hit out at those who slammed teammate Max Verstappen’s father for snubbing the victory celebrations in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago. “I have a good relationship with Jos,” Perez, 33, insisted in Melbourne. Other camera footage of the Jeddah celebrations showed that Perez did indeed shake hands with both Jos and Vermeulen. “We shook hands, but they probably didn’t show that,” Perez smiled. “As you can imagine, I don’t manage my social media at all times,” Perez insisted. Perez will line up at the back of the grid in Melbourne following a qualifying mistake – reminiscent of Verstappen’s qualifying problems at Jeddah two weeks ago. Because nobody can beat Max – it’s not just Perez who can’t.

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