Helmut Marko criticises Perez's disastrous run at Monaco GP
At the Monaco Grand Prix, Red Bull's Sergio Perez faced a disastrous weekend, earning critique from Helmut Marko. Meanwhile, teammate Max Verstappen excelled, clinching pole, winning the race, and extending his championship lead.
The Downward Spiral of Perez's Weekend
"Perez's weekend in Monaco was effectively over before it started," stated Marko, during an interview with ServusTV.
The critical moment that changed the course of the Mexican driver's weekend was a crash in the early stages of Q1 on Saturday.
This blunder sent Perez to the back of the grid, from where he described the race as "impossible."
"Everything went wrong there," Marko added, branding the crash as “not irresponsible, but unreasonable.”
Perez's race didn't improve on Sunday either, featuring collisions with Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, and George Russell, along with five pit stops and a finish at 16th place, two laps down on his teammate.
A Difficult Pill to Swallow
Speaking to Sky Deutschland, Marko expressed a stern expectation for Perez, stating,
"I hope that today’s mistakes are enough for the rest of the season. His speed when he drove free was good. But his crash in qualifying ruined the weekend."
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner shared a similar sentiment, commenting, "It was just a weekend where nothing worked for him at all."
Perez's Response and Look Forward
Perez, now 39 points behind Verstappen in the championship, admitted his mistake.
"That’s the first big mistake I made in the World Championship,” he confessed, apologizing to his team and expressing eagerness to rebound at the next race.
In stark contrast to Perez's weekend, Marko lavished praise on Verstappen's performance, which started with an "unbelievable qualifying lap."
He described Verstappen as being "always in control of the situation in all conditions – dry, semi-dry, extremely water – and controlled the pace with ease."
He added, “The communication between the technicians and Max was excellent.”
Marko and the Red Bull team hope that Perez can swiftly put his disastrous weekend behind him and emerge stronger at the next race.
The upcoming race at Barcelona might present the opportunity Perez needs to reassert himself within the Red Bull squad and bounce back in the championship race.
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