Following the Turkish Grand Prix, Red Bull driver development program head Helmut Marko has accused Lewis Hamilton of trying to push Sergio Perez into the pit lane. Hamilton and Perez battled for the final podium place in the last few laps of the race, where the Red Bull Racing driver got the better of the seven-time F1 champion.
The intermediate tires had shown some graining at the start, which happened to Hamilton, which resulted in him dropping behind Ferrari’s Charles LeClerc.
Marko believes that Hamilton was aggressive during his duel with Perez, but was proud of the way the Mexican defended his place.
“He pushes him there, apparently wanted to send him into the pit lane. Sergio fully countered and defended well. I think that was decisive for him, ultimately finishing third,” said Marko.
Marko was satisfied with his team’s performance during the weekend, as well as Hamilton’s fifth-place finish in the race.
“We are more than satisfied. That was the best we could get out of here. And Hamilton is only fifth. The engineers have also done a great job. The drivers over every lap have been informed of the condition of the tires and their driving behavior has been adjusted accordingly without losing lap time,” said the head of the driver development program at Red Bull Racing.
Red Bull Racing finished second and third at the Turkish Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen taking the second spot behind Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. The second-place finish for the Dutchman takes him six points clear of Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship. Perez also got his third podium of the season, with his last one coming in France.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was surprised by Mercedes’ speed down the straights at the Turkish Grand Prix and suggested that there may have been a few changes made to the power unit of their rivals.
“It’s surprising they appear to have made the step they have with the power unit. We could match them with smaller [rear] wings previously; now we can’t get near. And we saw that particularly at this circuit, where Lewis had a straight-line advantage with a bigger rear wing on the car,” said Horner.
Mercedes’ Toto Wolff stated that there have been some reliability issues with their power units as the team has pushed the boundaries with performance. The team wants to contain the problems that they have with their power units.
F1 next moves to the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas in Texas later this month. Lewis Hamilton has won five times at the circuit, the most by any F1 driver at the Circuit of The Americas. Last year’s Grand Prix was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
