This week has not been easy for Sergio Pérez. After the inglorious abandonment right at the first corner in Mexico, the driver settled for ninth place in yesterday’s qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix of Formula 1.
The Mexican from Red Bull admitted that there were two factors preventing him from realizing the existing potential: ‘It was very unfortunate, I believe we had the pace to qualify at least in the first two rows. We were on our way to third, maybe second, my lap was very close to Max [Verstappen]’s until the last corner, but we had the spin of [Oscar] Piastri at the end of the lap and I had to slow down. I also believe that we went out on the track a little too late, the rain caught us and the track temperature was cooling down quickly’.
Leaving qualifying behind, Pérez faces the rest of the Grand Prix with reasons to be encouraged: ‘There are so many “ifs”, but it’s only the beginning of the weekend and there is still a long way to go, the positive aspect is that we seem to have a very strong pace. I’m looking forward to Saturday to see what we can do in the Sprint day, I think we have some good opportunities to compete from here’.
