“I Just Went Into Town”: ‘Unguarded’ Helmut Marko Reveals He Faced No Hostility From Mexicans Despite Projected ‘Strained Relations’ With Sergio Perez

Helmut Marko and Sergio Perez are believed to have a strained relationship as the former is often very critical of the latter’s performance. Since F1 visited Mexico this past weekend, many believed that the Austrian will not receive a warm reception. However, according to Marko, not only were the Mexican fans very kind to him but he also went into town unguarded.

While speaking to telegraaf.nl, Marko said (translated via DeepL), “The visitors were very fair. Max was not booed, which happened a week earlier in Austin. Max didn’t leave his hotel, but I didn’t really care. I just went into town and also spent a few days alone elsewhere in Mexico earlier in the week. We really didn’t have any problems at all“.

Helmut Marko interestingly visited the town unguarded despite insisting on Max Verstappen to have security for the weekend. The 80-year-old wanted the Dutchman to have security as a preventive measure after the fans in Austin booed the three-time champion a few weeks ago.

The booing in Austin made such headlines that it even prompted Perez to request the Mexican fans to support the entire Red Bull team and not just him. While neither Verstappen nor Marko faced any hostility, the Mexican fans seemingly had a new target following the Mexico City GP.

Mexican fans booed Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc suffered the wrath of the Mexican fans after he unintentionally collided with Sergio Perez on the first lap of the Mexico City GP, resulting in the Red Bull driver retiring from the race. Following their collision, Leclerc apologized and said that he could not have done anything.

Perez too agreed that it was a racing incident and stated that Leclerc could not have done much in that instance. The Mexican told Sky Sports that since he had a “tremendous start,” he was keen on going for the move on Leclerc despite knowing that it was ambitious.

“A lot of booing, a lot of booing… guys I had nowhere to go!”

Leclerc addresses the crowd after his incident with Perez 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/WP2UCwjA4m

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) October 29, 2023

The 34-year-old believes that he would have felt far worse had he not attempted the move at all after the kind of start he had. However, even though Perez took the blame for the collision, it did not stop the Mexican fans from booing Leclerc. Since Mexican fans are some of the most passionate supporters in the world, they do not take it too kindly when things go wrong for their heroes.