The 2022 F1 Dutch Grand Prix was by no means the weekend of Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez, who had hoped to close the gap to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, but after crossing the finish line, the gap against his Red Bull teammate was widened.
The Mexican started from fourth place, and in the early stages he couldn’t find the rhythm to get into an attacking position on Lewis Hamilton on a soft tire that was rapidly degrading.
The pit stops did not guide the direction of Checo, who was struggling to climb to third position. A last chance opened up with the safety car caused by the abandonment of Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo late in the race, a situation that several teams took advantage of to fit fresh tyres.
While Max Verstappen, George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc opted for the soft, Pérez had to opt for the medium, which seemed his best option to try to jump from fifth place to the podium zone. At the restart, the situation was different, as he was immediately overtaken by Sainz and fell to sixth place.
Checo and the Spaniard engaged in a battle for fifth place that, at times, became tense with movements in which the Mexican had to go off the track before the strong defense of the Ferrari.
Although the Red Bull rider did not overtake the Prancing Horse rider on the track, he did win fifth place when the Spaniard was penalized five seconds for an unsafe release in his last stop ahead of Fernando Alonso.
“In the end [Sainz] was a bit more aggressive than expected and luckily I didn’t have any damage to the car,” said Sergio Pérez, referring to the duel with the Ferrari.
“I knew I had the penalty, and I wanted to go for Hamilton, who had problems with his tires at the time,” said the Mexican.
Hamilton was leading on the restart after the safety car, but was soon overtaken by Verstappen, Russell and Leclerc, who moved up to all three podium positions.
Explaining why he chose the medium tire for the restart, Checo Pérez indicated that it seemed like the right choice: “I think in the end I felt better on the medium, but not for the restart behind the Safety Car.”
“The medium tire, we saw it with Hamilton, with the different drivers who put it on, it was difficult to warm up with the safety car, and that hurt me to retain the position with Carlos”, assured Pérez, who remains tied in the general of drivers with Charles Leclerc with 201 points.
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