Sergio Perez once again found himself in a familiar position after qualifying for the Grand Prix, a situation that has become a routine in 2023. This posed a strategic challenge for the Mexican driver and the Red Bull team during the race in Bahrain last weekend.
Unlike his teammate Max Verstappen, who started from pole position and comfortably pulled away, Perez had to fight to overtake George Russell and the two Ferraris after starting from fifth place.
Friday’s qualifying session in Bahrain revealed that the field was very close in terms of one-lap pace. Therefore, Perez’s fifth place on the grid, just over a tenth of a second away from starting alongside Verstappen on the front row, was not as disastrous as his several Q2 eliminations in 2023.
However, Perez mentioned after the race that battling through the field in the early stages of the race put more pressure on his tires, which required the team to consider their strategy.
“Starting from P5, it’s always satisfying to make good progress,” Perez commented on his second place in Bahrain. “There were a lot of battles on track, which completely changes the strategy. You feel more sliding when you’re in the middle of traffic. Overall, it’s a great result for the team. We had tough fights with the Ferraris and the early battles with the Mercedes. The DRS activation was different, which affected some things out there.”
Both Red Bull cars started and finished the race on soft tires, with an intermediate stint on hard compounds. This differed from most other teams who opted for a soft, hard, hard tire strategy. The choice was mainly influenced by the remaining allocation of Pirelli tires available to them.
For Verstappen, this strategy was straightforward and he was able to focus solely on his own race without being bothered by the battles happening behind him.
On the other hand, Perez had to defend his position against a fast-paced Carlos Sainz after moving up to second place. This forced him to make an early pit stop for his final stint on soft tires.
Although Perez acknowledged that “it worked really well to save a new set of soft tires” and that Red Bull performed better with this compound compared to the hard tires on Bahrain’s high-wear circuit, he also mentioned that the final stint was challenging but manageable. He finished a few seconds ahead of Sainz in third place.
“I knew it was all about managing,” explained Perez. “[Sainz] pressured us to stop early, and it would be a very long stint, so we were able to gradually build an advantage and maintain a consistent distance. I think it worked well.”
