FIA take action against Helmut Marko after comments about Sergio Perez

Helmut Marko has received a written warning from the FIA and was “reminded of his responsibilities as a public figure in motorsport” after his ”offensive remark” about Sergio Perez. The 80-year-old, who works as a special advisor for Red Bull, apologised after comments made after the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago. Marko referred to Perez’s background when discussing his poor form, saying: “Let’s remember that he (Perez) is South American and so he is not as focused as Max Verstappen or Sebastian Vettel was.” While Marko apologised for the “offensive remark”, with Perez accepting the apology, Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff were among the figures to condemn Marko’s actions when speaking this weekend in Singapore. Now, the FIA have confirmed that Marko has "received a written warning and been reminded of his responsibilities as a public figure in motorsport in line with the FIA Code of Ethics." Hamilton, 38, labelled Marko’s comments as “completely unacceptable” on Thursday. “This is not something you just apologise for and it is all OK,” the seven-time world champion said. “Whilst we say there is no room for any type of discrimination in this sport – and there should be no room for it – to have leaders and people in his position making comments like this is not good for us moving forward. “There are a lot of people in the background that really are combating these kind of things, but it is hard to manoeuvre if people at the top have mindsets which stop us from progressing. “But it is not my team and not how we move as a team. We still have a lot of work to do to make this a more inclusive environment.” Mercedes boss Wolff added: “That thing is so embarrassing for Formula 1., overall. “It’s not even saying it, it’s to have the mindset. To come up with these things. We are trying to do so much on diversity and equality, not only because we need to it’s because it needs it. “This is a role model environment, we are a global sport, we are going to every country, we are embracing the cultural differences. That hasn’t got any place in Formula 1. Not now and not in the future.” Read More Red Bull chief apologises to Sergio Perez over ‘offensive remark’ Sergio Pérez says he received personal apology from Red Bull boss over heritage comments Lewis Hamilton labels Helmut Marko’s comments about Sergio Perez ‘completely unacceptable’ F1 Singapore Grand Prix LIVE: Practice updates and lap times at Marina Bay Zhou Guanyu interview: ‘There is a lot of pressure – only winners stay in F1’ Max Verstappen tells Toto Wolff to focus on Mercedes after snipe