Red Bull have taken to social media to offer a somewhat cheeky response to Mercedes’ apparent trolling after the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Both Red Bull cars of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez had to retire from the Formula 1 season opener due to fuel pump issues, and the bitter rivalry with Mercedes continued as the Silver Arrows tweeted ‘you love to see it’ at the moment Lewis Hamilton passed Perez.
Hamilton bagged an unlikely podium after went on to take third place in Bahrain, given the Mercedes car well behind the Red Bulls and the Ferrari machines. George Russell was fourth.
Now, after Verstappen’s epic win in the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP, Red Bull couldn’t help themselves and offered up some trolling of their own with a ‘you love to see it’ and pictures of Verstappen celebrating his win on the podium.
Sergio Perez started the race on pole position but after pitting just before a Safety Car, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the lead and it looked like the Monegasque driver was going to pick up his second win of the 2022 season until a late Virtual Safety Car.
That allowed Verstappen to close up a little, and then in the final few laps the pair traded blows on the last corner and pit straight with the Red Bull driver eventually taking the win by just over 0.5 seconds.
That elation was juxtaposed by a horrific weekend for Mercedes, and Hamilton in particular after he was dumped out of qualifying in Q1, and stayed out longer on his hard tyres, but was unable to take advantage of the Virtual Safety Car due to the pit lane being closed. He eventually finished in 10th position.
When told of his final placing in the Saudi Arabian GP, Hamilton offered a surprising response: “Is there even a point for that position?”
No love lost between Red Bull and Mercedes
The rivalry between the two teams remains as fierce as ever following last season’s contentions title battle, which saw Verstappen come out on top in controversial fashion.
The FIA finally shared the results of their investigation into last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the findings revealing that both Toto Wolff and Christian Horner both had an adverse effect on race director Michael Masi.
