Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, apologized publicly after making comments on the Red Bull-owned Servus TV channel that linked Perez’s form fluctuations and perceived lack of focus to him being South American.
Following the Italian Grand Prix, Marko mistakenly referred to Sergio Perez as ‘South American’ and believed that this perspective was the reason behind Perez’s inability to match the performance of drivers like Sebastian Vettel (German) and Max Verstappen (Dutch).
Marko later issued a public apology for his remarks, and Perez disclosed that they had engaged in private discussions. Perez mentioned that his personal acquaintance with Marko allowed him to interpret the context of Marko’s comments.
Perez said he understood that Marko was trying to motivate him and that he did not take the comments personally.
The Mexican driver, when asked about Marko’s comments, stated: “I had a private conversation with him, he did apologise and that to me was the main thing.”
“We will move on, and I have a personal relationship with him, and you can always have the feeling, when you see that stuff, knowing the person helps a lot because I know he doesn’t mean it that way.
“I took his apology because I know Helmut and know that he didn’t mean it that way.
“If I were to look at the comments, I would feel [the anti-Mexican/Latin bias], but I know Helmut.
“It didn’t sound like that to me, and whatever I say to the media or he says to the media is different to the conversations that we have.
“We all make mistakes, and what to me was the most important was that I take his personal apology and what happens afterwards in the media or on [social media] is not in my control.
“When you read the comments in isolation, they can be very disrespectful, but like I said, having that personal relationship with Helmut helped me to understand him.
“He gave me a personal apology, and I didn’t get offended at all.
“If the comments were on a different perspective, I would have taken them differently, but it is just how things are and they weren’t personal.”
