Sky F1’s Natalie Pinkham posted a photo with Sergio Perez.

Sky F1’s Natalie Pinkham posted a photo with Sergio Perez on social media, after a tense interview with Christian Horner regarding the Mexican’s future.

Pinkham had been asking the Red Bull team principal about why Perez had been offered more of an opportunity to impress with the team, before an awkward exchange followed.

Natalie Pinkham posts photo with Sergio Perez after tense Christian Horner interview

In the first race after the summer break, Horner was asked by the Sky F1 presenter why Perez had been given more time in his seat, after the team principal clarified that he would be continuing with Red Bull after the four-week interval, when widespread reports had suggested Perez was set to be replaced.

When that question was put to Horner by Pinkham, the Red Bull team principal responded: “Well, who would you put in?”

“I’m not the boss of Red Bull,” she replied.

“Who would you change it for? Why would you change it?” Horner said.

“Why have you turned it around on me?” said Pinkham, with Horner smiling back: “You ask all the questions!”

That exchange prompted plenty of debate on social media, with users’ opinions ranging from distaste for the nature of Horner’s response, to others theorising Pinkham was somehow subtly showing favouritism towards Daniel Ricciardo, with whom she is known to have a close friendship, to a multitude of others backing Pinkham for asking Horner newsworthy questions in her capacity as a journalist.

In a social media post seemingly responding to that moment several days later, Pinkham posted a picture with Perez with the caption: “Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see…. 😉”

Perez qualified fifth and finished sixth in the Dutch Grand Prix at the weekend, with Horner offering praise for how he drove.

“I thought he did a solid job. I mean, if you look at his pace in the race, it was decent,” he told media including PlanetF1.com at Zandvoort.

“But I thought Checo [Perez], staring P5 and finishing P6, I thought that was a very solid drive by him today.

“Obviously, he lost a position at the start, which was a little frustrating for him but I think that, actually, he’ll take quite a lot of positives out of his performance here, and hopefully puts him on a good trajectory for Monza.”