Pérez, hurt by the Safety Car: "We had it in the bag"

Sergio Pérez was starting from pole position at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for the first time since he was in Formula 1, and although he controlled the first part of the race, his first pit stop came at the most inopportune moment.

At the start, the Mexican closed the door on Charles Leclerc, who tried to attack him, and established a difference of around 1.5 seconds against the Ferrari that had won the first round of the world championship.

On lap 16, Checo Pérez began to fall. He was the first of the drivers in front to enter the pits after Ferrari’s threat with Leclerc, but the Mexican had the bad luck that moments later Nicholas Latifi crashed into the wall and caused a Virtual Safety Car that soon became a car safety to remove the Williams of the Canadian, who had already caused a red flag on Saturday in the classification.

That was taken advantage of by the rest of the leading riders to enter, while Pérez had to roll slowly down the track until he ended up falling to fourth after giving up third position on the restart to Carlos Sainz to avoid a penalty, because the Spaniard had crossed the line earlier. safety car when leaving the pits.

From that moment Sergio Pérez could not recover and finished fourth, three positions behind his starting position.

“That was when we needed to do it,” he said on FOX Sports of his stoppage. “If I didn’t go in I was in danger because there was a small risk of undercutting, before that we had the race under control”

“We had enough room for the undercut, a shame, but these are things you can’t control and on that lap a Williams hit.”

On DAZN F1 , he explained: “A shame, but there are things you can’t control as a driver. We did what we had to do, what we had to do, and unfortunately it wasn’t enough to win the race. Unbelievable, Latifi, when I least needed it.” That’s when it happened. And not just virtual safety car, but safety car, and we lost the race there.”

“We had the race in the bag.”

Even so, Pérez wanted to look on the positive side despite admitting pain: “We have to look forward and keep working, because these are the races that hurt a lot.”

Pérez was proud of his first stint, despite the final result: “ I did it perfectly. I made the start, we dominated the first stint, which is the most complicated because that’s where the race stalls, but that’s the way things are”.

Finally, he had positive words towards Red Bull and his teammate, a Max Verstappen who took a victory that seemed destined for Checo: “I want to be there [in Australia], but I’m happy for the team, for Max. After the result I’m happy with the last race”.

The photos of Sergio Pérez at the 2022 F1 Saudi Arabian GP

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari F1-75

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari F1-75, George Russell, Mercedes W13, Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22

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Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75, Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, George Russell, Mercedes W13

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75, Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari F1-75

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari F1-75

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75, Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, the rest of the pack

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Start Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari F1-75

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Start Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari F1-75

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Start Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr.

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Start Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr.

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Start Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr.

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Start Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr.

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Start Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr.

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Start Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, Carlos Sainz Jr.

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Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Mechanics take Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Mick Schumacher, Haas, Fernando Alonso, Alpine and Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Mick Schumacher, Haas, Fernando Alonso, Alpine and Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez, Mercedes’ George Russell and Williams’ Alex Albon in the drivers’ bus

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Mick Schumacher, Haas, Fernando Alonso, Alpine and Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari and Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing

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Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing

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Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18

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Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari congratulates pole vault winner Sergio Perez on Red Bull Racing

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Pole winner Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Polesitter Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing is interviewed by Johnny Herbert, Sky TV

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Polesitter Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing is interviewed by Johnny Herbert, Sky TV

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Pole winner Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing, celebrates

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Pole winner Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing, celebrates

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Pole winner Sergio Pérez, Red Bull Racing, celebrates

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images