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Sergio Perez has addressed the media about Red Bull Racing chief Helmut Marko's controversial comments and said that the Austrian had apologized
After the race in Monza where Perez finished second, Marko was once again not impressed with the performance of the Mexican, who has struggled a bit this season.
In an interview with Servus TV, Marko made xenophobic remarks that led to a lot of outrage on social media. Even though he issued a clarification and an apology shortly after, Perez's side was yet to be heard.
The 33-year-old met the media, including Sportskeeda, on Thursday (September 14) ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, where he addressed the issue. He said that he had a private conversation with Marko, who had apologized for his remarks.
Perez said:
“He did apologise, and that to me was the main thing. Yeah, basically we move on. I have a personal relationship with him. When you see that sort of stuff, knowing the person helps a lot, because I know he doesn’t mean it that way. And… I took his apology because I know Helmut from the personal relationship that we’ve had, that he doesn’t mean it that way.”
He added:
“Whatever I say to the media or he says to the media, it’s different to the conversations we have. We all make mistakes, and what to me was the most important is that I take this apology, his personal apology. What happens afterwards and on the media side, or on the public eye, that’s not in my control. To me the most important is the personal relationship.”
Helmut Marko's apology to Sergio Perez
After the race in Monza, Helmut Marko talked about how Sergio Perez was South American and hence not as focused as Max Verstappen or Sebastian Vettel. After the discriminatory comments went viral, the Red Bull chief advisor issued a statement apologizing for the offensive remark.
Marko said:
“I would like to apologize for my offensive remark and want to make it absolutely clear that I do not believe that we can generalize about the people from any country, any race, any ethnicity.”
Such comments about a driver, especially Sergio Perez who has already revealed multiple times in the last few years how he feels like an outsider, is just not the right thing. Red Bull, on the other hand, will be looking to move on from this controversy and focus on track performance this weekend.
