Sergio Perez’s X-rated response as rescued Red Bull driver sends defiant message

An unearthed piece of team radio from the Belgian Grand Prix weekend has revealed the moment Sergio Perez said “f*** them all” in a defiant message from the Red Bull driver.

It emerged on Monday that Perez will be retained by Red Bull for the second half of the F1 2024 season, having fought off speculation surrounding his seat to remain as Max Verstappen’s team-mate.

Sergio Perez in defiant ‘**** them all’ message over F1 team radio

The decision came after a mid-season review by Red Bull, involving team principal Christian Horner and adviser Helmut Marko, at the team’s headquarters.

Despite signing a new two-year contract as recently as last month, Perez’s poor form since May’s Miami GP had left the Mexican driver’s seat under huge scrutiny, with a rumoured clause in his new deal giving Red Bull the power to drop him if he found himself in excess of 100 points behind Verstappen at the time of the summer break.

Perez’s deficit to Verstappen expanded to 146 points at the Belgian Grand Prix, the last race before the August shutdown, on Sunday, fading from second on the grid to eighth at the chequered flag.

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The post-race disqualification of Mercedes driver George Russell, whose car was found to be underweight, promoted Perez to seventh in the official results.

Marko, in particular, was less than impressed by Perez’s performance on race day, claiming the driver had “completely collapsed” as the grand prix unfolded.

Perez’s poor display in the race came after he was widely praised for his performance in wet conditions in qualifying, when he secured his best starting position since April’s Chinese Grand Prix by posting the third-fastest time in Q3.

His performance was all the more impressive as his lap came on used intermediate tyres, with the drivers – including George Russell and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren – around him all on new tyres.

Informed of this by his race engineer, Hugh Bird, at the end of the session, Perez delivered an X-rated response in a message of defiance.

Bird told Perez: “FYI (for your information), Hamilton’s fitted his new. Piastri’s used his new. Russell’s used his new. Norris has used his new. And you beat them all.”

Perez responded: “Yeah. F*** them all.”

Bird added: “Let’s go do it.”

The news that Perez will be retained for the second half of the season means he is in to line return to the scene of his last F1 victory in Baku, where he led Verstappen in a one-two finish for Red Bull in April 2023, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, scheduled to take place on September 15.

Confirming the decision to keep Perez to Red Bull staff on Monday, Horner said: “Checo remains a Red Bull Racing driver, despite all the speculation of late.

“We’re looking forward to seeing him perform at circuits where he’s done well before after the summer break.”

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