Red Bull chief aims dig at his OWN driver after Japanese GP display

Helmut Marko has directed a cheeky dig at an F1 driver after their qualifying performance in Japan.

The Red Bull director is known for his blunt assessments of racing drivers, quick to replace them if they are underperforming.

READ MORE: Alonso shares SURPRISING Verstappen Red Bull departure verdict

Former Alpha Tauri driver Nyck De Vries was sacked midway through the 2023 season, with Marko stating ‘he didn’t meet expectations’.

Other F1 drivers to come under the scrutiny of Marko and Red Bull have been Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon, who both drive outside of the Red Bull family.

Marko makes brutal comment about Sergio Perez

Marko has also been critical over the current Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, particularly when he was struggling with performance last season.

Comments included calling his Monaco crash ‘unreasonable’ and that he lacked the ‘mental focus’ of world champions Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.

Despite questions of his contract going into 2024, Perez has had an improved start to 2024 finishing second to Verstappen in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

However, Marko has identified there are still issues with his qualifying pace, and made a dig at the Mexican driver after he qualified P2 at the Japanese GP.

“It’s been a long time since Perez was on that front row, I have to dig into my memory for that,” he said to ORF according to PlanetF1.

Marko also complimented Perez on his qualifying performance, indicating he had shown improvement from last year.

READ MORE: Red Bull boss issues WARNING after claiming rivals are ahead in Japan

“I think Perez was better than expected, especially after his bad weekend here last year. He’s gotten better since then.

“Right here at this circuit, which is a real driver’s circuit after all, the corners of Sector 1 are among the fastest corners and in them Perez was able to keep up with Max very well.”

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