The 80-year-old is an influential figure, who effectively selects the drivers for both the drinks company’s teams.

In einer Erklärung erklärte Marko: „Ich möchte meine beleidigende Aussage entschuldigen.

I want to make it absolutely clear that I don’t think we can generalise about people from any country, race, or ethnicity.

“I was trying to make a point that Checo’s form has fluctuated this year, but it was wrong to attribute this to his cultural heritage”, added the Austrian, who made his statement via Red Bull’s Servus TV website.

Nach dem italienischen Grand Prix am vergangenen Wochenende gab Marko seine ersten Aussagen auf einem Fernsehprogramm von Servus.

“We know that he has problems in qualifying, he has fluctuations in form, he is South American and he is just not as completely focused in his head as Max [Verstappen] is or as Sebastian [Vettel] is,” Marko said, referring to Perez’s fluctuating season.

Even though Perez is from Mexico, which is geographically in North America, Marko has referred to him as South American more than once.

In einem Versuch, die Aussage vorher am Freitag zu klären, geriet Marko nur in eine tiefere Grube.

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He was reported on the Austrian website www.oe24.at as saying: “It wasn’t meant that way.” I wanted to say that a Mexican has a different mindset than a German or a Dutch. Aber wer weiß, vielleicht ist es kontrolliert.

In den ersten vier Rennen der Saison erzielten Perez und Verstappen jeweils zwei Siege, woraufhin Perez über eine Herausforderung um den Weltmeistertitel sprach.

However, Perez’s dreams were broken during a run in which he failed to qualify in the top 10 for five races consecutively, despite the Red Bull being the fastest car in the field.

Since the fifth race of the season in Miami, Verstappen has won every grand prix and is on a record-beating run of 10 victories in a row.

Marko war ein ehemaliger Rennfahrer, der einen engen Freund des verstorbenen Mitbesitzers von Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, war, der kürzlich verstorben ist.

South America has produced four multiple world champions: Juan Manuel Fangio, who won five times, Emerson Fittipaldi, who won two times, and Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, who won three times.