Referring to Perez’s form, Marko alluded to his “South American” origins when comparing him to Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, suggesting he is not as focused as the drivers who led Red Bull to the title.
“He’s South American and he’s not completely focused like Max or Sebastian,” Marko said. The comments caused a stir on social media, especially in Perez’s home country of Mexico, which is actually in North America.
Marko had already publicly apologized for the words he uttered on Red Bull’s ServusTV channel after the Italian GP, but Perez said before the Singapore GP that the two also met in private.
“I had a private conversation with him,” Perez said. “He apologized. And that for me was the main thing. And yeah, basically, we move on. I have a personal relationship with him. And I think you can always have those feelings when you see certain things.”
“Knowing the person helps a lot, because I know he didn’t mean that. And I accepted his apology, because I know that Helmut, due to the personal relationship we have, didn’t mean that.”
Helmut Marko, Consultant, Red Bull Racing, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, 2nd position, talk after the race
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Perez insisted he was not offended by Marko’s comments, suggesting they were misinterpreted. “Not at all, if I’m being completely honest,” he said. “Knowing Helmut, as I said, I have a personal relationship with him. I know he didn’t mean that.”
“And I wasn’t personally offended at all. Let’s just say if those comments had been made from a different perspective or so on, I would have taken them differently. But for me, that’s the way it is and I didn’t take it personally.”
He added: “Whatever I say to the media, or he says to the media, is different from the conversations we have. In any case, we have a good relationship and I know it’s not related to this aspect.”
“As I said, Helmut apologized. I think we all make mistakes. And the most important thing for me is that I accepted his apology, his personal apology.”
“What happens next, from a media or public point of view, is not under my control. For me the most important thing is the personal relationship.”
“We’ll always have a chat on the track, off the track, here and there. We see each other pretty much every weekend.”
“He will say what he thinks. I think one thing we can appreciate about Helmut is that he is very transparent, towards the media and the world in general, and also towards the pilots. So that’s just how he is,” he concluded.
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