17/07/2023
NEWS STORY
Sergio Perez lit up the streets of the Spanish capital for a Red Bull Showrun on Saturday night.
At the wheel of both the RB7 and RB8, the Mexican took the city by storm, as the iconic sound of the V8 engine reverberated around several of Madrid's historic landmarks.
The showrun comes days after the president of the city's event committee, Jose Vicente de los Mozos claimed that the F1 Grand Prix is heading to Madrid.
"I know when the agreement for the arrival of F1 in Madrid is going to be signed," he told reporters on Thursday.
Though Barcelona has the contract to host the Spanish Grand Prix until 2026, de los Mozos hinted that Madrid and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which has hosted the Grand Prix since 1991, could host the event on a rotational basis, a system which is gaining increasing popularity with the sport's powers that be.
In his third showrun for Red Bull, Perez performed donuts in front of the famous Cibeles Fountain, as over 85,000 fans watched on.
Red Bull continues to bring Formula One to new audiences and this was no exception, as the team ran two of Sebastian Vettel's championship winning cars in a new city for F1, and in true Red Bull style, the showrun began with a spectacular side act featuring Red Bull athlete, paraglider Horacio Llorens, who descended with his parachute to land in the centre of Cibeles square and hand over Perez's steering wheel to him.
Madrid is the fifth city in which the team and Perez have hooked up to run the streets in a showrun. In 2021 he burnt rubber in the streets of Mexico City and, fresh from winning the constructors' title last season with the team, he stopped the traffic in his hometown of Guadalajara. He's also taken to the tarmac of Red Bull Racing's home city, Milton Keynes and Dallas.
"It was amazing to see the crowd here today and how passionate the people of Madrid are about Red Bull and Formula One," said Perez. "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."