Christian Horner reveals why Red Bull did not release a statement in the Helmut Marko-Sergio Perez controversy

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has said that the reason why the team did not release a statement in the Helmut Marko-Sergio Perez controversy was because the Austrian is not an employee of the team.

Marko, Red Bull's motorsport advisor, came under the scanner after making discriminatory remarks about the Mexican driver following the Italian GP earlier this month. Marko said that Perez being a South American meant he was not as focused.

The comments went viral, with the Austrian recently issuing a statement about the incident and apologizing to Perez.

However, there were questions as to why the Red Bull racing team did not comment on the issue. To this, Horner said that it came down to the fact that Marko was not an employee of the F1 team.

Talking to the media, including Sportskeeda, Horner said:

“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 ServusTV channel. Helmut is technically an employee directly of, or a consultant to the group. So it’s not really a question for me to answer."

He added:

"We’ve obviously spoken about it. I know he regrets what he said, he’s apologized. Even at 80 years of age, you can, it’s still not too late to learn. There’s a code of conduct, a code of ethics, and a sporting code and so that already exists. We’ve communicated with FIA and FOM throughout the last week, as you can imagine, and that is very much a matter for them, obviously, not for the team.”

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"Those comments weren't right": Red Bull boss on Helmut Marko's comments

Christian Horner has said that Helmut Marko's comments on Sergio Perez "weren't right," adding that the team took the matter "very, very seriously."

He said:

“Firstly, those comments weren’t right. I think Helmut quickly recognised that and apologised for that, both publicly and directly to Sergio. He spoke directly to Sergio about it and I think you’re always learning in life – even at 80 years of age."

He added:

"Inevitably, lessons have been learned. Checo [Perez] is a massively popular member of our team, an important member of our team. I pushed very hard to sign him for the 2021 season. We have a huge following around the world and we take that very, very seriously, very responsibly."

Both the team and the driver will be hoping to move on from this conversation and focus on the Singapore GP race weekend in front of them.