Perez agrees with Verstappen: "I like people like Helmut"

"I like people like Helmut," Perez said in conversation with Beyond the Grid. The Red Bull Racing driver doesn't mind that the Austrian advisor is pretty straightforward. "I prefer people like him who tell you exactly what they think or think. I don't think I ever spoke much to Helmut before I came here, but now that I'm at Red Bull I've realised he's quite a funny person. He's a lot more fun than he looks, and if you're on the team with him he makes it clear that it's all about winning, nothing more."

Test Perez at Red Bull

In 2007, Perez was invited to test a Red Bull Formula 3 car, but it went differently than hoped."I had a problem with the seat. Because my knees were touching the steering wheel, and because of that I didn't have the pace I expected. I didn't have an extra chance. I was too slow. It was all about laptime. I was just kicked out. I think that was in 2007 or 2006," he explained.

Perez also spoke to Marko personally in the past. More than a decade ago, the duo met in Formula 3 at the paddock."I was racing against drivers from the Red Bull programme and at that time I was leading the championship. At Silverstone I saw Helmut, and when I asked him how he was doing he said 'we're going to beat you'."

Marko enthusiastic

When Perez competed for Arden (Christian Horner's team) in GP2 in 2009, he spoke to Red Bull's top man again."After I did a good race at Silverstone, he came to me and he told me, 'hey, you're doing alright, but you have your own driver programme, you don't need me.' That was the final conversation that we had, that I remember." Perez said. Marko told Perez that he did not need the services of Red Bull to get far in motorsport.

Interestingly, Marko revealed last week that Red Bull were close to bringing Perez to the junior team a year later in 2010. Apparently Marko was so convinced that he wanted to bring Perez in after all.