Perez explains ‘you’ll talk to me now’ radio exchange with Horner

After qualifying third in Friday qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, Horner was heard congratulating Perez over team radio, to which the Mexican replied: “ah, you will talk to me now.” 

Horner then responded: "I will talk to you. I said to you top five, mate. You've blitzed it." 

Asked about the radio exchange following Sunday’s grand prix, in which Perez finished second behind Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, he said: "It was a joke. 

“He [Horner] came before qualifying and said ‘if you're not in the top three, I will not talk to you the rest of the weekend’.

“So he was talking to me the rest of the weekend.” 

The joke was a reference to Perez’s recent torrid qualifying form that had seen him go five weekends on the trot without reaching Q3. 

Perez finally brought that run to an end at the Hungarian Grand Prix but could only qualify ninth, before recovering to third with what Horner described as a “statement drive”. 

Perez enjoyed a stronger weekend in Belgium, despite a DNF in the Sprint Race following a collision with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, to register his best qualifying and race result since Miami. 

However, a comprehensive defeat to a charging Verstappen in Sunday’s grand prix leaves him trailing the Dutchman by 125 points in the world championship. 

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko said that Perez had “woken up from his world championship dream” following his recent string of setbacks that have enabled Verstappen to streak clear in his bid to win a third consecutive drivers’ title.