Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has found himself in very hot water, after the Austrian made a racist and xenophobic comment aimed at Sergio Perez.
The incident arose on Austrian outlet Servus TV, where the 80-year-old was discussing Perez’s form this season and the recent Italian Grand Prix in particular.
Perez performed much better in Monza and managed to seal a 1-2 finish for Red Bull, despite having started in fifth.
Perez demonstrated great patience to get past George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who all put up a fight at Monza.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
Marko was impressed by the 33-year-old’s performance yet insisted that he does experience “fluctuations in form”.
The advisor shockingly put this down to the driver being “South American”, something which was horrific to state by Marko.
He’s received significant backlash for his blatant racism towards Perez, whilst Marko also insisted that the experienced driver doesn’t have the same “mental focus” as reigning World Champion Max Verstappen or four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
“It was certainly one of the better weekends, and we know he has issues in qualifying,” he said to Austrian outlet Servus TV.
“He experiences fluctuations in form; he’s South American, and his mental focus isn’t as consistent as it was with Max or Sebastian.
“However, the races have mostly been good, and his race yesterday was very, very strong.”
Marko’s comments have sparked calls for him to be fired on social media, with #RedBullRacist trending on social media.
At this stage, it remains unclear if Red Bull will decide to take any action against the controversial Austrian.
Despite his criticism towards Perez, Marko is “optimistic” about the Mexican’s future and admits that Red Bull hadn’t targeted a 1-2 finish in a while, due to not thinking it could be achieved.
Marko is “really excited” as a result that Perez has found some form, making consistent 1-2 finishes possible once again.
“So, we’re optimistic, and strangely, among our achievements, a 1-2 finish has been missing and we’re really excited to have finally achieved that.” Marko added.
Perez has certainly rediscovered his form, something which was pondered prior to the summer break.
READ: Zhou Guanyu reveals why Audi takeover is bad news for him
Ahead of the summer break, Perez claimed back-to-back podiums in Hungary and Belgium, before finishing fourth in the Netherlands a couple of weeks ago at the first race since the break ended.
However, had it not been for a five-second time penalty at Zandvoort, then he would’ve claimed a podium there as well.
With three podiums from the last four races, Perez certainly seems to be back at his best ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.