Helmut Marko urges Sergio Perez to ‘wake up’ and ABANDON title hopes following Spanish GP nightmare

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko requests Sergio Perez to give up the world title fight as he feels the pressure is getting to him.

Helmut Marko urges Sergio Perez to ‘wake up’ and ABANDON title hopes following Spanish GP nightmare

Helmut Marko and Sergio Perez

The Spanish Grand Prix was an interesting case for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. After being unable to extract the RB19’s full potential like his teammate who finished on the pole, the Mexican qualified in P11. Max Verstappen when on to win the race, and Perez finished in 4th position behind the Mercedes’.

Team adviser Helmut Marko however, was left less than impressed after Perez’s poor run of form. “He needs to concentrate more on racing, not on the title. I hope he recovers himself,” Helmut told Sky Deutschland. He also said that Perez’s lack of pace is now becoming consistent, especially after his abysmal Monaco GP. “The whole weekend it was already the case that he was three-to-five tenths slower. It’s now the second consecutive weekend [with problems],” he continued.

YouTube video

Sergio Perez’s lack of form has resulted in comparing the Mexican with Nyck de Vries, a part of Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri. Nyck de Vries, like Sergio Perez, is not putting on overly impressive results after joining the team this year. However, Helmut Marko denies any links between the two. “That’s a different situation and he [Perez] believed in his World Championship dream. Checo is getting a relatively hard wake-up call now, but I’m sure he’ll pick himself up again,” explained Marko.

FS Video

Also read: “Ultimately, we are stronger being a bigger racing team,” Zak Brown denies distraction claims amid McLaren’s performance criticism

Sergio Perez falls behind as teammate Max Verstappen’s domination continues

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen; Image credit: Formula1News.co.uk

Sergio Perez secured two victories against his teammate and 2-time world champion Max Verstappen. After the results put in by Perez in the first few races, many expected the Mexican to put in a title fight against his teammate. After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Perez was only 6 points adrift of championship leader Verstappen.

However, Sergio Perez has had trouble keeping up with his Red Bull partner throughout the 2023 season. In Australia, Perez, after locking up and sliding into the gravel trap, couldn’t set a lap and was eliminated out of Q1, despite winning the previous race in Jeddah. At the Miami GP, the Mexican couldn’t hold on to his pole position as his teammate blazed passed him and won the race from P9.

After crashing out in Q3 at Monaco, Perez couldn’t do much in the race after he qualified P20. His poor form also followed him in Barcelona, where he finished in 4th place. Max Verstappen currently has five victories this season, while Perez has 2. After showing potential earlier in the season, Checo Perez is 53 points behind his Dutch teammate.

In case you missed it: