Sergio Perez has had a drastic upturn in form, as he has clinched three podiums in his last four races. Despite such a resurgence, he has not done enough to earn the praises of Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko. The Austrian recently provided scathing criticism of the Mexican by providing a controversial justification for the same. The 80-year-old explained how the Guadalajara-born driver is not at the level of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen because of his South American upbringing. On coming across such remarks, F1 fans have slammed Marko for his demeaning remarks.
Marko’s recent remarks come in stark contrast to the comments he made earlier. This is because the Red Bull advisor previously attempted to support Perez and explained how the 33-year-old has been meeting expectations.
However, recently, Marko admitted that Red Bull are already looking for potential candidates to replace Perez. The 80-year-old pointed out how it is unfortunate for Red Bull that Lando Norris has a long-term contract with McLaren, as “he would be one of the candidates” to replace the former Racing Point driver.
F1 fans fume after Marko compares Perez with Vettel and Verstappen
F1 fans such as Danae have urged Red Bull to issue a public apology after the kind of remarks Helmut Marko made about Sergio Perez. They have made it clear that the 33-year-old’s hometown has “nothing to do with his performance.”
@redbull We demand a public apology from Helmut Marko to Checo Pérez, tell the illiterate man that Mexico is not in South America, that it is in North America and that it has nothing to do with his performance where he is from. We hope this time they do something about it. https://t.co/RxuEvcMmMI
— Danae Jaimes (@DanaeJ73) September 7, 2023
Meanwhile, another fan stated that while they are not the biggest fans of Perez, they believe that such a use of language has no place in F1.
Look, I don’t like Checo but racism & xenophobia will never be okay. Helmut can literally go to hell https://t.co/FJ3wEMAXVF
— nik ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ (@sainzzleclerc) September 6, 2023
Similarly, several other fans also slammed Marko for not only criticizing Perez now but also using such derogatory remarks to put forward his point.
Helmut always on Checo’s case with negative comments, now racist comments, what’s wrong with him? https://t.co/EMwIvCu7Wt
— Hlatse.M (@HlatseMatlaila) September 6, 2023
What did Helmut Marko say about Sergio Perez?
Helmut Marko’s recent remarks have resulted in immense controversy after he labeled Sergio Perez as a “South American.” While speaking in an interview with Sport & Talk of Servus TV, the 80-year-old said (as quoted by marca.com), “Let’s remember that he is South American and so his head is not as focused as Max Verstappen or as Sebastian Vettel was, but racing is his forte and he had a very good race (at Monza)“.
While the Austrian did use some derogatory language to criticize Perez’s focus, he did have some praise for the 33-year-old as well. Marko explained how Perez has done far better than his predecessors, as he has also won a few races despite being teammates with Verstappen.
Perez has also won two races this season but has failed to win any of the previous 10 Grand Prixs. As a result, he will now look to bounce back against Verstappen at the next race in Singapore, a Grand Prix that the Dutchman has never won previously. The race weekend at the Marina Bay Street Circuit will take place from September 15 to 17.
