Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost says Max Verstappen was right to ignore the team's request to let team-mate Carlos Sainz past on the penultimate lap of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen turned in a super recovery drive at Marina Bay, where he was a lap down early in the race following a stall on the line. In the closing stages he had raced up the order on super-soft tyres and reeled in Sergio Perez's Force India, which had soft tyres on, with Sainz following closely behind.
However, it appeared to be one car too many for Verstappen's charge and on the penultimate lap Toro Rosso asked him to cede the position to Sainz, who had fresher super-soft tyres and therefore theoretically a better chance of getting past.
Verstappen replied simply "no" when first asked and did not yield before taking the chequered flag in eighth, one place ahead of Sainz. After the race, Verstappen insisted his pace had not warranted the team order.
"It was the call to 'let Carlos come by', I mean always I had a great pace - I was pulling away from everyone in the midfield," Verstappen said. "I was catching up to the guys in front, for me there was no reason to let him pass. I think if it was the other way around it would be the same thing."
Sainz said he was under the impression he would have to give the position back to Verstappen were he unable to catch and pass Perez before the chequered flag.
Asked if he would have let Verstappen by if he were in the same position, Sainz replied: "For sure, no doubt. I mean I would have done it, I'm a fair man. I saw what Red Bull did in Monaco and I said 'this is the best thing you could ever do, play the team card' and let the guy on the newer tyre - which was me - try it. At least try it, one shot, if I can't, Max you go through and I'll finish P9, it's not a problem. I just wanted that shot, he never gave it to me and that was it.
"We get on very well. This is not an issue for me, it's just when we put our helmets on we are obviously rivals and we want the best for each other. But sometimes when you put the helmet on you have to also think for the team not for your own."
Team principal Tost said Sainz did not have the pace or the tyres to get past Perez either.
"Carlos had new tyres, therefore we thought we can switch positions, but Carlos was too slow, he was too far behind," Tost said. "Then we said, 'no, Max was right' because he saw that Carlos was not closing up. Carlos could not have caught Perez and therefore we said 'no, let them go, it does not make sense'.
Asked if Verstappen was right to ignore the team, Tost said: "Because Carlos was always minimum between three, five tenths behind. If he wants to swap positions he must be closer to him, otherwise it doesn't make sense. He wouldn't have caught Perez, no chance."