"If you’re not in the top 3 I will not talk to you the rest of the weekend": Christian Horner's inside joke to Sergio Perez at Spa

Heading to the Belgian GP, Sergio Perez was on a six-race streak of failing to qualify in the top five. With the Mexican driver unable to turn around his fortunes, Red Bull boss Christian Horner gave an ultimatum to improve his form.

Sergio Perez revealed that Horner had vowed not to speak with him for the Belgian GP weekend if he failed to qualify in the top three. The team principal wanted Perez to start in the front of the grid as Max Verstappen was taking a five-place grid drop. Red Bull needed one car on the front row, as the other had a best-case P6 starting position.

With the sprint weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, Perez had to deliver his best efforts in Friday's qualifying session. He managed to do so, clocking the third-fastest time to put his Red Bull on the front row alongside Charles Leclerc's Ferrari.

“He [Horner] came before qualifying and said ‘if you’re not in the top three I will not talk to you the rest of the weekend’. So he was talking to me the rest of the weekend,” Perez said to media post-race, including Sportskeeda.

Starting second on the grid, the Mexican sailed past Leclerc to lead the race in the first stint. He was no match to the charging Max Verstappen and settled for a P2 finish. As he took the checkered flag, Christian Horner congratulated, as he was heard saying: "You’ll talk to me now."

Perez later described it as a joke between the two of them. Horner recounted the incident but added a few more hilarious details, that he believes directly influenced Checo's result.

“I told him that I wasn’t going to talk to him if he wasn’t in the top five and I’d squeeze part of his anatomy if he wasn’t,” the Brit said.

“It seemed to do the job. So we’ll have to try it again in Zandvoort!” he concluded.

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Sergio Perez explains his big deficit to Max Verstappen at Spa

Starting sixth on the grid, Max Verstappen was the favorite to win the race despite his teammate Sergio Perez starting on the front row. Verstappen backed up his odds for victory with yet another dominant win. His winning margin over his teammate in P2 was a whopping 22 seconds.

In his post-race comments, Sergio Perez explained that an aggressive setup was the reason he couldn't show his true pace at the Belgian GP. With no practice sessions, Perez's camp didn't want to take risks, as he was asked to consolidate the podium result.

"We were too aggressive with the car setup, not having any practice. So it was important just to make sure we brought the car home. Especially on that second stint, he pulled a massive gap and then I went off into Turn 11, and then the gap got bigger," he said.

Checo admitted that he is relieved to be heading into the summer break, promising to come back even stronger in the second half of the season.