Sergio Perez is currently enjoying his winter break after an exhausting season full of ups and downs. The Mexican was able to improve in the last half of 2023, and he claimed the second spot on driver’s standings finally leading to the shutdown of any rumors of him facing a potential sacking in the upcoming season.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez often take part in the publicity events and various interviews conducted by Red Bull, and while these interviews are lighthearted moments meant for the drivers and fans to enjoy, they sometimes end up going dark. One of the recent posts by Red Bull Racing has come under fire.
Red Bull faces fan backlash for calling Sergio Perez a ‘friendly dog’
Red Bull recently posted a picture of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez alongside each other with a caption that went like this: “The lion and the friendly dog”. Within minutes, the post escalated into a huge controversy and fans started pouring in in the comment section for the apparent disrespect shown to Sergio Perez.
The general behavior of Sergio Perez in the Red Bull camp wasn’t satisfactory this season and there were situations in which Checo was called out by Marko in a wrong way causing a huge disruption in the fanbase. After such a sensitive season, the fact that Red Bull called Checo ‘a dog’ blew up the post and there were many criticisms against the Austrian team.
A user commented on the fact that their comparison is inherently disrespectful to Checo: “That’s slightly insulting don’t you think?”
Another commentor brought up Checo’s contribution as a Red Bull driver and lashed out at Bulls for speaking about him in a disrespectful way: “Y’all really just called your number 2 driver a dog? I would be so p****d if I was Checo Perez right now. After all the work he did for Max and the team.”
In fact, Checo’s supporters were not at all ready to forgive the Bulls for their apparent lack of accountability and respect for their driver. It should be noted that, except for Max and Carlos, Checo is the only other driver to secure a victory this season.
The actual story behind calling Checo the ‘friendly dog’
It is obvious that the Red Bull social media team won’t make a huge blunder like this and try to demean any of their members. Actually, there is a big story behind all of this and it looks like the commentors and protesting fans have failed to realize that this caption was based on a previous interview.
What actually happened was that Red Bull asked Max and Checo about the animal they relate to the most, and Checo immediately replied that he would be a ‘friendly dog’. While the caption of the post looks deceiving, it should be noted that Sergio Perez himself feels the same way.
What was supposed to be a disrespectful comparison just turned out to be a reference to Red Bull’s earlier posts but the fans couldn’t help and kept spamming angrily in the comment section. Did you know about this controversy and have you seen either of the posts mentioned above? Do let us know your thoughts in the comments.
