On Friday afternoon Perez qualified third for the Spa-Francorchamps race, behind team-mate Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
After Perez's final qualifying lap team principal Christian Horner came on the radio to congratulate the Mexican, who replied: "Ah, you will talk to me now..."
Horner replied: "I will talk to you. I said to you top five, mate. You've blitzed it."
The exchange began to take on a life of its own on social media, with fans speculating about a rift between Horner and his driver.
In Sunday's post-race press conference Perez explained the inside joke behind the exchange that was taken out of context.
"It was a joke," Perez said. "He 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."
When asked by Autosport to clarify the message, Horner quipped: "I told him that I wasn't going to talk to him if he wasn't in the top five and I would squeeze a part of his anatomy if he wasn't.
"It seemed to do the job, so we'll have to try that again in Zandvoort..."
Source: Autosport