Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has explained why they did not issue an official response to offensive remarks made about its driver Sergio Perez by Helmut Marko.
Marko apologised for comments he made about Perez in an interview broadcast on Red Bull’s Servus TV channel. He said Perez “is South American [sic] and his head just isn’t as fully focused” as other drivers from European countries.“Those comments weren’t right,” Horner told Sky. “I think Helmut quickly recognised that and apologised for that both publicly and directly to Sergio.”
Marko made the comments in an interview broadcast on September 4th. An apology was issued on his behalf by Servus TV four days later.
“He spoke directly to Sergio about it,” Horner continued. “I think you’re always learning in life, even at 80 years of age. And I think inevitably lessons have been learned.
Yesterday Lewis Hamilton questioned why Red Bull’s F1 team hadn’t issued a statement or apology of its own in response to Marko’s comments about its driver. Horner said this is because Marko is not employed directly by the team.
“Obviously from Helmut’s perspective he’s apologised,” said Horner. “He’s not an employee of Red Bull Racing so in terms of why didn’t we put out a statement, he’s part of the Red Bull wider group and the group obviously issued that apology through the Servus TV channel.”
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Perez is “a massively popular member of our team,” Horner added. “He is an important member of our team. I pushed very hard to sign him back for the 2021 season.
“We have a huge following around the world and we take that very seriously, very responsibly. And I think that the fan following not just Checo has, but the team has and Formula 1 has, we’re very conscious of. This is his 250th race, we want to focus on that.”
Other team principals also denounced Marko’s comments, including McLaren CEO Zak Brown, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, Alfa Romeo team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.
“It’s not only about what has been said, but it’s the mindset – that you can even come up with these things,” Wolff said.
“That hasn’t got any place in Formula 1. That’s not something that should have been said in the past and certainly not now or in the future. We all know that we need more diversity in Formula 1, more inclusion, and the teams do their best to create an environment where this is possible. And obviously statements like this don’t shine the light on Formula 1 that Formula 1 deserves for all of their activities.”
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Chaitanya
15th September 2023, 13:04
Why just Marko, their golden boys racism has also been justified multiple times as playground talk of Dutch and normalized multiple times. So in general it seems like Europeans havent changed.
Steve (@duuxdeluxe)
15th September 2023, 13:12
How ironic that you are being racist in your own comment in an attempt to make a point
David BR (@david-br)
15th September 2023, 15:25
@duuxdeluxe And how ‘ironic’ that you accused Hamilton of lying yesterday about a lack of formal apology from Red Bull but here is Horner explaining the absence of that formal apology today. Do you have any sense of integrity?
Djdsf
15th September 2023, 19:50
“European” isn’t a race.
Facts&Stats
15th September 2023, 20:07
Steve said being ‘racist’, this includes (prejudice towards) ethnic groups.
It seems that OPs post fits that description. Weird that it is allowed here.
Ludewig
15th September 2023, 20:14
South American isn’t a race either.
Ludewig
15th September 2023, 20:14
South American isn’t a race either.
melanos
15th September 2023, 20:33
Neither is “South American”,or “Mexican” for that matter. And all this is getting too ridiculous. Checo accepts the apology, while everyone gets vicariously offended for Checo. Ok let’s hang Helmut Marko at the Zócalo, all those virtue signalers won’t be happy with anything less. Oh the irony.
notagrumpyfan
15th September 2023, 15:50
I hope it will take you less than 4 days to apologise.
And I guess, even though you are not employed by this website, I assume they will apologise as well just to show what RBR should’ve done.
Tony
16th September 2023, 14:07
The mockery you show to such an important issue. Shows your true character. Apologise and move on. Don’t mock and think you’re clever doing it.
Jem (@j1jem)
15th September 2023, 13:17
Lovely juxtaposition, Keith:
“…Horner told Sky. “I think Helmut quickly recognised that and apologised”” … “An apology was issued on his behalf by Servus TV four days later.”
As for Horner’s “He’s not an employee of Red Bull Racing so in terms of why didn’t we put out a statement, he’s part of the Red Bull wider group”, this translates as “I’m actually quite scared of Helmut and don’t want to upset him or Red Bull management”. Is Christian on a sticky wicket with Red Bull? Maybe they’ve been considering their options more deeply than we realise following DM’s death…
JackL
15th September 2023, 15:21
Pretty spot on.
The problem with Helmut’s comments are the power and influence he wields. With how many youngsters he evaluates, he could easily kill a career with an off-handed remark like this, or worse, a blanket statement that a driver doesnt have what it takes to succeed in F1.
anon
15th September 2023, 20:59
@j1jem there is also another query about Horner’s comments, which is the claim that Marko is not an employee of Red Bull Racing.
According to Companies House, Marko was appointed as a director of Red Bull Racing back in 2004, and is still an active director of the team – that would seem to run counter to Horner’s claim that Marko is not a Red Bull Racing employee.
Todfod (@todfod)
15th September 2023, 13:20
If any Red Bull team member, or high level associate, ever said something negative about the Dutch or Western Europe, they would severe all ties with that person, condemn them publicly, release a press statement in every publication in the world, along with a Netflix series covering the apology as well.
But its Perez.. so the bare minimum should suffice.
Steve (@duuxdeluxe)
15th September 2023, 13:36
Nice whataboutism.
Todfod (@todfod)
15th September 2023, 16:31
Thanks
Ciaran (@ciaran)
15th September 2023, 13:37
Normally Horner’s shrewd way of talking annoys me, but “Obviously from Helmut’s perspective he’s apologised” does make me laugh. In his way of speak, that’s “Helmut doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong, hasn’t apologised in a way that matters, and won’t be changing a damn thing.”
Timbo
15th September 2023, 13:45
Lizards in the Red Bull garage too, not just on track.
SteveP
15th September 2023, 14:25
With that comparison, I think you should now expect to receive a legal cease-and-desist letter on behalf of lizards. :)
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
15th September 2023, 13:49
RBR are vulgar and offensive, that’s their trademark.
MichaelN
15th September 2023, 16:12
Exactly, it’s all part of the marketing. Marko just isn’t clever enough to wrap his pandering to the infamous ServusTV platform in the usual dog-whistles its political commentators usually employ.
And remember too that Red Bull thought it was just hilarious when Verstappen labelled and FIA steward a ‘Mongol’, a crude racial slur dating back to the time when John Langdon Down (yes, that one) labelled his categorized his more severe patients as such.
Rick Gomez (@rgomez13)
15th September 2023, 13:52
I’m one of those “Lazy South Americans”. Poor Helmut has a lot to learn starting with Geography. I think it was a sales pitch for Red Bull. If us South Americans drank Red Bull, we’d wake up a little and get with the program. Sadly, ann apology doesn’t eliminate his ignorance.
Edvaldo
15th September 2023, 15:36
If i remember correctly, back in the Vettel era he (or someone big at Red Bull) worked with Vettel, Perez and other young drivers and was praising Vettel’s professionalism telling a story about him and comparing him to Perez. Perez was rejected by Red Bull’s youth drivers programme and Vettel…we all know the story.
Perez was used as an example of a slacker, a guy that wasn’t as good, that didn’t take it too seriously, wasn’t always on time and even his house wasn’t as spotless whereas Vettel was the nerdy, came early with a notebook on hand ready to take notes and absorb information, followed strict house rules and was well mannered. It was some race at Monza because Vettel was being praised for every little thing, even to be the only driver to attend a Pirelli demonstration about the technology of their tyres, something like that.
So i think this senile old man is using his past experiences with Perez to generalize all latin people as lazy and less capable.
David BR (@david-br)
15th September 2023, 16:37
That’s an interesting angle about the Vettel-Perez comparison.
Vettel was also held up by one renowned Brazilian commentator as ‘exemplary’ (disciplined etc.) in contrast to Hamilton during the early part of their Formula 1 careers. Check out Piquet Sr for similar attitudes.
Rick Gomez (@rgomez13)
15th September 2023, 13:52
BTW, I see my typo
Jeffrey Powell
15th September 2023, 14:12
I am afraid he is an arrogant and quite unpleasant character it seems , from what he said we can surmise he considers anyone from the South and that probably includes Southern Europe might not be as well screwed together as his ‘Europeans ‘ the only consolation is maybe you, me and F1 won’t have to suffer him much longer .
Edvaldo
15th September 2023, 15:08
I can’t help but remember this old fart screaming his lungs out at hispanic Alguesuari for being in Vettel’s way for a couple of corners on a friday practice at Korea 2011.
Now, years later comes with these remarks about latin people.
He’ll probably say a couple more before he retires or dies.
Roberto
15th September 2023, 15:10
Diversity – All cultures and all people must all be the same all the time. Tolerance – you must agree.
SteveP
15th September 2023, 15:19
Must? That’s enforced homogeneity, not diversity.
Diversity is having differences, tolerance is allowing the differences that annoy you to go unremarked.
In this case, I’m not tolerating Marko and I think he needs stronger medication to deal with an apparent case of Tourette’s
Ben
15th September 2023, 15:39
Oh give it a bloody rest.
This sort of worthy self-righteous nonsense has rotted western civilisation over the last 20 years.
David BR (@david-br)
15th September 2023, 16:49
20? Western ‘civilization’ was pretty rotten 2000 years ago when the Romans were busy massacring the people in the lands they invaded. It’s not really been much different since. I’d say the last 50 years have shown a few glimmering signs of improvement, though in some aspects it remains the same.
Mike
15th September 2023, 18:34
Ooh, so sensitive about what some senile old man said.
People whine about every little thing nowadays.
Cry babies!
David BR (@david-br)
15th September 2023, 21:11
I can’t tell if you’re satirizing some Monty Python sketch! The Romans invade, butcher everyone, leave some nice roads and spas, and still people whine about them!
MichaelN
15th September 2023, 19:13
You can find ‘decline of Western civilization’ narratives in every era in say, the last 700 years. It’s a bit of a classic.
David BR (@david-br)
15th September 2023, 21:18
Or even before that! Homer (2800 years ago) was probably lamenting how rubbish modern battles were compared to the siege of Troy he was writing about, 400 years earlier.
CP
15th September 2023, 15:52
Brilliant – Helmut is not a RedBull employee. Is this the same bookkeeping and accountant skills they used to keep costs off their balance sheet so they could build that illegal car?
SteveP
15th September 2023, 23:50
Oh, so Marko handles the catering accounts?
Cue comparisons with “Putins chef” :)
az
16th September 2023, 20:32
Juri Vips’ case is slightly similar although the words were different (explicit), used in a different context (more private), and they had a different outcome… In the Wikipedia article you can also see some similarities in how Horner handled the issue, doing some PR stuff…