Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has praised Sergio Perez after his valiant win in Azerbaijan. The maestro hailed the Mexican for his optimal race as he picked up the spotless win in Baku beating his 2-time champion teammate Max Verstappen.
Speaking to ORF, the 80-year-old who recently celebrated his birthday with the third Red Bull victory in the 2023 season, mentioned how fast Perez was right from the start. The Red Bull veteran also revealed that Verstappen had to experiment with his set-up before he could match Checo, as per GP Blog.
🗣️ | 🇦🇿 Helmut Marko on the Azerbaijan GP:
“He had to experiment with the set-up of his car [Max] until the end to get the best out of it, and only then could he follow Sergio’s pace.”
“Compliments to Sergio, he was fast from the start and made no mistakes. An optimal race.” pic.twitter.com/W6qFYzjbUo
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) April 30, 2023
Marko went on to add that both the Red Bulls were fast and, at some point, they asked if they should slow down. But the team denied it and asked them to continue with the maximum speed.
While team principal Christian Horner told Verstappen over the radio that Perez got lucky, Marko’s praise is expected to give Perez the much-needed impetus for his fight for the championship.
Perez is free to race Verstappen
As per the latest developments, the Mexican driver is free to race his teammate. There were no team orders so far in Red Bull, and there will not be any in the days to come, revealed the team principal.
However, the British executive also mentioned that wheel-to-wheel racing against each other will only be allowed until individual interest takes the upper hand against the team’s interest.
Our 25th #F1 one-two finish 🇲🇽🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/V8EsnHlzfI
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 30, 2023
Given the fact that only Perez and Verstappen are each other’s rivals for the championship now, it’s highly likely that the two teammates can go right against each other throughout the season.
The Mexican reignites world championship hope
Earlier this season, the Red Bull ace once revealed that he won’t go back to his country Mexico without winning the championship. Even though the championship win is miles away as of now, Checo has inched closer to his rival.
With the latest Azerbaijan GP win, Perez reignited his world championship hope. Apart from the main race win, the Mexican star also clinched the victory in the first Sprint race of the 2023 season held at the Baku City Circuit.
Currently, Perez stands P2 in the championship standings with 87 points while his teammate leads the pack with 93 points in his pocket. Perez is being chased by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in P3 with 60 points.
