'He Tried': Verstappen Reacts To Perez's First Lap Crash In Mexico City
F1Monday, 30 October 2023 at 14:30
Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen shared his thoughts on lap one incident involving Sergio Perez at the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.
After a "mediocre" qualifying session on Saturday, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez wanted to gain as much as possible out of their starting position of 3rd and 5th place on the grid.
The Flying Dutchman had an amazing start when he overtook both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc and secured the inside line for the first corner.
His Mexican teammate also had an amazing start and caught a slipstream from him, which allowed him to overtake Sainz and try to go around the outside on Leclerc into the first corner.
However, whenever there are three cars next to each other, all trying to get ahead in the same corner, it quite often doesn't end well, and Sergio Perez found out the hard way.
Checo on the outside tried to break later and squeeze Leclerc more to the inside, but the Monegasque driver had nowhere to go as he was sandwiched between the two Red Bull cars.
Consequently, Perez turned into Leclerc and collided with the Ferrari driver. The contact launched his Red Bull car into the air and sent him spinning out of the track.
The incident also resulted in significant damage to Perez's car, which meant the Mexican driver had to retire on the first lap of the race in front of his home crowd.
Verstappen went on to win the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez by quite a comfortable margin, showing there was no need for such risky moves into the first corner. The Dutchman told the media.
“"I mean, I understand because it’s his home Grand Prix. You want to be on the podium, I fully understand that."”
Perez previously named the race in Mexico as his most important race this season. Verstappen said his teammate should have left more space for Leclerc on his right-hand side in the first corner.
“"He went around the outside, and he tried. Looking at the footage, I think he could have left a little bit more space, but at the other end if it would have worked, you know, you look amazing."”
It seemed like it was all or nothing for Sergio Perez at the Mexican Grand Prix, and unfortunately, it turned out to be nothing. The Mexican driver lost 19 points to Lewis Hamilton after the race.
This means the gap between Checo and the seven-time World Champion in the fight for second place in the Drivers' Championship came down to 20 points with three race weekends left in the season. Verstappen concluded:
“"And of course, I think it’s just more like that excitement of wanting to be on the podium, and this time it didn’t work out, unfortunately."”
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