Helmut Marko’s seven best Sergio Perez quotes as Red Bull terminate F1 driver’s contract

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Red Bull will run a new driver line-up in 2025 after terminating the contract of Sergio Perez, so F1 Oversteer looks back at Helmut Marko’s best quotes about the Mexican.

His time with the team from Milton Keynes was not always a rosy affair for Perez as Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko always wants their drivers to have high standards. The Austrian is also never shy to offer his brutally honest verdicts, which Perez would find out the hard way.

Marko works for the parent Red Bull GmbH company but is one of the most powerful figures in the energy drink giant’s racing empire. It is Marko who oversees the Red Bull Junior Team, which F1 team principal and CEO Christian Horner ignored to sign Perez for the 2021 season.

Red Bull release Sergio Perez from his contract for the 2025 Formula 1 season

Perez signed for Red Bull to replace their academy product Alex Albon after the Guadalajara native was released by Racing Point. But, apart from a brief flicker of a title challenge during the early part of the 2023 season, he would never be more than a No2 for Max Verstappen.

READ MORE: Sergio Perez’s life outside Formula 1 from net worth to nickname

Now, after producing the worst of his four seasons in Milton Keynes, Red Bull have released Perez from his contract. Horner had gifted him a one-year extension, with the option to run into 2026, back in June as Perez was set to be a free agent at the end of the 2024 season.

What has Helmut Marko said about Sergio Perez leaving Red Bull?

Perez simply failed to justify Horner’s decision to extend his contract after the Red Bull chief tried to take the pressure off the Mexican after starting the season with four podiums in five Grands Prix. Perez would score 49 of his 152 points in 2024 between rounds seven and 24.

Only scoring 152 points, failing to win a single Grand Prix and finishing the year just eighth in the drivers’ championship also firmly made 2024 his worst season at the team. Perez ranked fourth, third and second on 190, 305 and 285 points during his first three terms for Red Bull.

So, Red Bull have now pulled the plug and sacked Perez having cost them the defence of the constructors’ championship despite Verstappen winning another drivers’ title on 437 points. Marko, however, was noticeably absent from Red Bull’s statement announcing Perez’s firing.

Marko has often had a wealth of words to use when reviewing Perez’s results across his four years at Red Bull. Sometimes, his comments have even landed the Austrian in hot water. Yet Marko is a goldmine for quotes, so here are his best from speaking about Perez at Red Bull…

Helmut Marko warned Sergio Perez that F1 contracts are ‘useless’ before Red Bull sacking

The threat of Red Bull dropping Perez hung over his head for most of the 2024 season and it did not ease after Horner decided to extend his contract into 2025 and also insert an option for 2026. Even Marko warned Perez that F1 contracts are ‘useless’ prior to him getting fired.

“Perez may have a contract but Formula 1 is a meritocracy,” Marko said in October 2024. “If the performance is not right, even contracts are useless. At the end of the season, we will sit down together and decide who is the best teammate for Verstappen at Red Bull.”

Helmut Marko shut down Sergio Perez’s claim Red Bull’s upgrades at the 2024 US Grand Prix favoured Max Verstappen

Perez often sought to get attention away from his lack of results in the 2024 Formula 1 term, including suggesting that Red Bull’s car was largely the root cause for his plight. But Red Bull played it down, insisting that any differences between his and Verstappen’s cars were minor.

Marko was also having none of it when Perez alluded that Red Bull had favoured Verstappen with their upgrades for the 2024 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. The Mexican qualified P10 and finished the main race in P7, while Verstappen took the flag in P3.

“I don’t have the same upgrades as Max,” Perez lamented in Austin. “We see it a lot in [the] fast corners, which there are a lot of. But in the end, the car is working well. We have made progress and, with the adjustments we made, it was easier to drive.”

Marko offered a blunt response to Perez’s complaints when questioned about the Mexican’s sense that Verstappen had more upgrades. The Austrian simply said: “Marginal differences.”

Helmut Marko branded Sergio Perez’s final Mexico City Grand Prix with Red Bull as ‘very disappointing’

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez got back on the Formula 1 calendar in 2015 as Perez’s enormous popularity in his home nation helped to revive the Mexico City Grand Prix. But he bewildered his passionate supporters at Perez’s final home race driving for Red Bull in 2024.

Perez even angered Marko at the 2024 Mexico City GP after failing to get out of Q1. He then also made what the Red Bull chief called an ‘incomprehensible’ mistake on the grid as Perez drew a five-second time penalty due to a false start after parking outside of the box for P18.

Marko also hit out at Perez and Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson for their clumsy racing after colliding in a fight for P10. The now-fired Red Bull driver tried to force an overtake into T4 as Lawson shut the door, resulting in excessive damage to Perez’s floor edge and his sidepod.

“Perez had a bad weekend in Mexico,” Marko reflected. “We know that qualifying is not his strong point. But being eliminated in the first qualifying segment is very disappointing.

“The fact that a man with his experience would then position the car incorrectly in the starting box is incomprehensible and a real shame because his start was sensational… This was followed by a duel with Liam Lawson, in which both drivers were too impetuous.”

Sergio Perez ‘completely collapsed’ in the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix according to Helmut Marko

The 2024 Belgian Grand Prix provided Perez with a brilliant opportunity to get his season on track again. But, instead, he enraged Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko after Perez failed to convert a P2 start into a race victory and could only come home in P7 – 42.669s off the lead.

Verstappen posted the fastest lap time in qualifying but would start the race from P11 after receiving a 10-place grid penalty for a new internal combustion engine. It meant Perez took up the coveted P2 spot on the grid at Spa after running 0.011s slower than Charles Leclerc.

Yet, rather than using the slipstream down the Kemmel Straight to challenge the Ferrari star, Perez found himself under pressure off the line as he instantly fell behind Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. He then shuffled backwards through the pack without putting up much of a fight.

Ultimately, Perez took the finish 43.195s behind the race victor after a late pit stop to set the fastest lap before George Russell was disqualified from his Belgian GP win. But the way that Perez simply fell through the field during the race at Spa would enrage Red Bull chief Marko.

“This is not what we expected from him,” Marko vented following the 2024 Belgian GP. “He completely collapsed, especially in the last stint.”

Sergio Perez bewildered Helmut Marko with his inconsistency beside Max Verstappen

Despite Horner giving Perez a contract extension for at least the 2025 season in June 2024, Red Bull debated sacking the Mexican in the summer. He left the Belgian GP sat just seventh in the drivers’ standings with 131 points, whilst teammate Verstappen led the way with 277.

But, despite a plight which had seen the Guadalajara native fail to out-qualify Verstappen for 31 consecutive Grands Prix, Red Bull confirmed Perez would stay at the team against moving Daniel Ricciardo or Lawson from Visa Cash App RB just days after F1 broke for the summer.

Motorsport advisor Marko did not take the pressure off Perez following Red Bull announcing his retention, though. Instead, the Austrian opened up on his bewilderment at how he could go from being a close(ish) threat to Verstappen to then being miles off his teammate’s pace.

Marko noted: “The more difficult the car is to drive, the more the difference to Max comes out because he’s such an outstanding talent. If the rear steps out, he won’t lift the throttle. He’s just, ‘Yeah, it’s a little bit nervous’. Checo says, ‘It’s difficult’ or ‘It’s undriveable’.

“So, to be next to Max is a different story… He had some very good results [and] very good performances. Then the next day, he was half a second off Max or so.”

Red Bull gave Sergio Perez a contract extension as he’s ‘popular in Latin America’

Red Bull announced that Perez had agreed to an initial one-year contract extension with the option to stay for the 2026 F1 season in June 2024. The news even broke just nine days after Haas racer Kevin Magnussen and Perez crashed on the opening lap of the 2024 Monaco GP.

His 2024 campaign had just started to unravel in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix when Perez finished in P8 on a day that Verstappen won at Imola. Red Bull then saw their man fail to get out of Q1 in qualifying for the Monaco GP with the 18th-best lap plus then crashing after T1.

Yet further factors played into Red Bull’s decision to give Perez a contract extension than his results and team principal Horner wanting to get the pressure off the Mexican, well as far as Marko was concerned. The Austrian also stated that Perez’s marketing appeal played a part.

“We wanted to ensure continuity and both drivers get along fine,” Marko noted. “There are simply no conflicts… Checo is hugely popular in Latin America. We sell more merchandise of him there than of Verstappen. And when he has his phase, he is almost unbeatable.”

Helmut Marko feared Sergio Perez would ‘slack off’ with a long-term Red Bull contract

Perez started the 2024 campaign as strongly as Red Bull needed with second-place finishes in the Grand Prix in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Japan. He hit a slight blip across that period as Carlos Sainz returned from appendicitis surgery to win the Australian GP while Perez was P5.

But even making the podium again at the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix did not convince Marko that Perez merited a long-term contract extension, with his Red Bull deal due to expire after the term. He especially feared the consequences of retaining the Mexican for multiple years.

“Everything is an option,” Marko said after the Japanese GP. “Our team is currently working very well. If he has a secure contract for two years, there is a risk that he will slack off.”