Red Bull completes showrun with Perez in Madrid
Red Bull Racing staged a showrun in Madrid, the capital and most populous city of Spain with Sergio Perez completing three demo runs behind the wheel of title-winning Red Bull F1 cars.
Reigning world champion team Red Bull used the "free" weekend between the British and the Hungarian Grands Prix to conquer the streets of Madrid to showcase two of their previous title-winning F1 machines. Sergio Perez was behind the wheel of the RB7 and RB8, driving around several of Madrid's famous landmarks.
Running two of Sebastian Vettel's championship winning cars, the showrun ended with the Mexican pulling out donuts in front of the famous Cibeles Fountain, as over 85,000 fans attended the event.
Madrid is the fifth city in which Perez drove previous Red Bull cars in a showun. In 2021, he burnt rubber in the streets of Mexico City while last year saw the Mexican drive in his hometown of Guadalajara. He’s also taken to the tarmac of Milton Keynes, home to Red Bull and Dallas, Texas.
Commenting on his day, Perez said: “It was amazing to see the crowd here today and how passionate the people of Madrid are about Oracle Red Bull Racing and Formula One. People are super happy to see us, we are the only team who can make events like this possible, only Red Bull can shut down the busiest streets of Spain’s capital city on a Saturday night! Not many people know but Madrid is a second home to me, the vibe here is very unique and special, although I am not at home, I really feel like I am here.
"This was such a fun evening and now I am looking forward to being back behind the wheel of the RB19 to get my season back on track, I want to get back to winning and score as many points as possible before the summer break, we have some important races coming up.”
Alongside the showrun completed by Perez, fans had the opportunity to enjoy an exhibition from Elias Hountondji, a member of the Red Bull Driftbrothers, and Cristina Gutiérrez, the 2021 World Rally Cross Raids champion and the first woman to achieve a victory in the Dakar Rally since Jutta Kleinschmidt.
Madrid has served as the first location of the F1 Exhibition which opened its doors back in March. Although the exhibition was set to close in mid-July, it has been extended until 20 August.
The Spanish capital has also expressed its will to stage a Formula One race in the near future. Currently, the Spanish Grand Prix takes place in Barcelona with the contract running until 2026.
Jose Vicente de los Mozos, President of Madrid’s event committee, has recently stated that he knows "when the agreement for the arrival of F1 in Madrid is going to be signed."
It is not known whether Madrid will take over the place of Barcelona or it will run as Madrid GP with Barcelona continuing to host the Spanish Grand Prix.
