Jokingly, but not really, Helmut Marko nudged the Mexican driver after he was easily overtaken by Russell this Sunday at Paul Ricard
Sergio Pérez's poor performance this Sunday (24) in Paul Ricard did not go unnoticed by the Red Bull team. Helmut Marko, the taurine team consultant, did not relieve the Mexican in the criticism for the vacillation given after the virtual safety-car, in which he was easily overtaken by George Russell and lost the podium in the French race.
From the top: The virtual safety car was triggered on lap 50 after Guanyu Zhou had dropped out while Perez and Russell were dueling corner after corner for third place. After the VSC came out, the British Mercedes driver easily passed the Mexican, who didn't seem to realize that the race had been restarted.
Pérez complained about the delay in being warned about the virtual safety-car. The FIA issued a statement at the end of the race, saying that there was indeed a hardware problem and that the VSC signal released twice, but that this happened for all drivers, not just the Czech.
"A second VSC end message was sent due to a hardware failure, which led to an automatic switch to backup systems that worked exactly as they should in a scenario like that. The same information is provided to all teams, simultaneously. The final virtual safety-car countdown to the green light displayed on the panels is displayed randomly," the FIA statement said.
Marko, asked about the incident that happened to his driver, said jokingly, but making clear his dissatisfaction with the way the Mexican failed to add important points for the team in the Constructors' World Cup. "Sergio [Pérez] seemed to have fallen asleep in the virtual safety-car, maybe he drank tequila last night.
On the performance of winner Max Verstappen, Helmut liked his pupil's performance and talked about how tire management was the key factor for the win, even though they spent all weekend in Paul Ricard extolling the RB18's straight-line speed, which did not materialize in practice in overtaking. "With Max, the tires held up better than we imagined, but we admit we thought it would be quieter to pass on the track," he added.
Even with Sergio Pérez's poor performance, Red Bull shot into the Constructors' lead with 396 points, 82 ahead of rival Ferrari, which lost the great opportunity to catch up with Charles Leclerc's accident and Carlos Sainz's punishment. Formula One returns next week with the Hungarian Grand Prix, the last race before the summer break.