The booing at the USA Grand Prix, and the shortage of management that came about final yr within the paddock of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, have led Purple Bull to take motion in direction of defending Max Verstappen.
Helmut Marko made it recognized that the Dutch driver shall be given bodyguards for this Mexico Metropolis GP to protect him from the group.
The hostility skilled final weekend on the Circuit of the Americas from a sector of the followers, and the emergence of some threats on social media, led them to make the choice to place particular person safety members on him.
“Max would not actually need that and he is relaxed, however we now have accountability for him, so we simply need to be on the secure aspect as a precaution,” the Purple Bull sporting advisor talked about to F1 Insider.
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Chaos within the paddock of the Mexico Metropolis GP 2022
Marko additionally identified that Verstappen can have bodyguards primarily based on the issues that existed within the paddock of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez final yr.
Even house hero Checo Perez lamented the harassment he was subjected to by the big variety of individuals within the paddock.
Can Mercedes problem Purple Bull?
Previous to his disqualification within the USA, Lewis Hamilton ran Verstappen shut all through the entire race and crossed the road simply over two seconds behind regardless of dropping round six seconds to Mercedes strategic errors.
In 2022, altitude diminished the issues of drag the workforce confronted they usually confirmed aggressive tempo with Purple Bull within the first stint and, as soon as once more, it might occur in 2023.
Simulation knowledge obtained by Albert Fabrega (@AlbertFabrega on X, previously Twitter) signifies that the Silver Arrows could possibly be only a tenth slower than Purple Bull, giving the world champions a possible headache to cope with on Sunday.
McLaren and Ferrari are anticipated to be 0.2 tenths slower than Verstappen‘s workforce, which might work out at 14.2 seconds throughout the 71-lap race.
