Racing Point suspect Perez caught COVID from private chef

Racing Point believe Sergio Perez contracted COVID-19 from a private chef in Europe, rather than during a trip home to Mexico between the Hungarian Grand Prix and the British GP.

The Mexican driver was the first person in the paddock to test positive since Formula 1 restarted last month, which forced him to skip the British and 70th Anniversary rounds as he self-isolated.

There was speculation Perez caught the virus whilst on a trip back home to visit his ill mother, with rumours he wasn’t taking any precautions, which he described as “bullshit”.

“I found it very unprofessional, those things,” he said. “It’s a total lie. I went to Mexico for two days to see my mum, with all the precautions in place. I took care of everything, followed all the guidelines.  

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“When I was in quarantine I saw everything, I saw people saying I was taking selfies with people, I saw that I made up the story about my mum, so much bullshit. So disrespectful.”

Racing Point team boss Otmar Szafnauer spoke about the situation on Fridau ahead of this weekend’s Spanish GP, where Perez will return to action after testing negative, and believes he caught it in Europe, not Mexico.

“We think he got it from one of the private chefs that he hired. That, quite frankly, could happen to any one one of us,” said Szafnauer to Sky Sports F1.

“He took every precaution, he flew privately, he stayed with his parents, he didn’t go out to eat. And then when he got to Europe he hired a private chef so he wouldn’t go to restaurants and we think he got it from the chef.”

Perez warned that anyone could test positive at any moment, and that he was just unlucky, rather than careless.

“People here in Formula 1 think we are bulletproof to the virus, and that’s not the case. We’re all very vulnerable to this. I’ve done nothing differently to anyone else in this paddock. It just happened to me.”