Marko contradicts stewards’ reason for Red Bull penalties · F1 · RaceFans

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko offered a different account of their actions in the Canadian Grand Prix to that related by the stewards in justifying their penalties for the team and Sergio Perez.

The team’s driver broke his car’s rear wing and suspension when he spun off at turn six, then drove back to the pits as debris fell from his RB20. The stewards ruled Perez drove his car in an unsafe condition, handed him a three-place grid penalty for the next round in Spain and fined Red Bull €25,000 (£21,000).

According to the stewards “the team confirmed in the hearing that the driver had been advised to bring the car back to the pits as they were trying to avoid a Safety Car situation”. Perez’s team mate Max Verstappen was leading at the time.

However Marko has contradicted the stewards’ claim, claiming the true reason Red Bull told Perez to return to the pits was in order to repair his car so he could continue in the race, despite having a broken rear wing and only 18 laps remaining.

“Perez’s rear-view mirrors were dirty and he couldn’t see what the rear looked like,” Marko told Speedweek. “We, on the other hand, could see from the data that the suspension was okay, so of course we’re trying to get the car back and, ideally, be able to fight for points again.”

“The race stewards then announced that parts of his car had fallen off,” Marko added. Red Bull was aware of this and alerted Verstappen to the debris. When Perez returned to the pits his race engineer Hugh Bird told him to “retire the car.”

Marko queried why Lewis Hamilton wasn’t penalised in 2020 for driving on a puncture at the end of the British Grand Prix. “I remember Lewis Hamilton once finishing on three wheels at Silverstone and winning,” he said. “Strange, there was no penalty then.”

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Perez’s radio messages after his crash