Antonio Perez: I like Marco pushing Sergio

Antonio Perez, the father of the Mexican Red Bull Racing driver, admitted his warmest feelings for Helmut Marko, although the Red Bull motorsport advisor allowed himself to make very harsh statements about Sergio this season, for which he later even had to apologize.

Perez Sr. however, made it clear that he supports the tough methods of working with riders that Marco traditionally practices, believing that the 80-year-old Austrian only wants the best for his son.

At the start of the season, Sergio earned credit for winning two of the first four races of the 2023 championship, as well as Saturday’s sprint in Baku, but crashed the car during qualifying on the Monaco stage, leaving his results started to decline. . He even reached the podium much less often, but he began to make more mistakes, although he still occupied 2nd place in the individual standings four races before the end of the season.

All this gave rise to rumors that Red Bull Racing could refuse the services of the Mexican, although his contract with the champion team does not expire until the end of next year. But Antonio Perez does not believe in such a development of events.

“Sergio will compete in the same team as Max Verstappen for another ten years, and during this time he might even become world champion! – this was his emotional comment in the broadcast of the Austrian TV channel ORF. “I love that my son is competing with the best racer in the world, and now it’s Max.

And I think Helmut Marko is giving Sergio the best support he can have. He’s just an incredible person, a real winner, and I love that he’s pushing Sergio. This is why I love Dr. Marco so much!”

I’d like to believe that Perez Sr. spoke sincerely. It is also worth recalling that Christian Horner, the head of the Red Bull Racing team, unlike Marco, always publicly spoke out in support of Sergio, and when he criticized it was only to the point and in a much more subdued form.