Perez Reacts To Losing Another Last Lap Battle: 'Wasn't Expecting Him'
F1
Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez secured second place in the Drivers' Championship during the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Starting from the 11th spot on the grid, it was clear Sergio Perez would have to be careful to avoid first-lap carnage that had a high likelihood of happening.
As Fernando Alonso described after practice sessions, the cold track created random grip levels, which made it difficult for drivers to judge where to break. As a consequence, many cars went wide already in turn one.
This resulted in multiple collisions, and unfortunately for the Mexican F1 driver, he could not avoid all of them as he went into the back of Valtteri Bottas and damaged his front wing. Perez commented after the race:
"It was really difficult with a lot of damage. Initially, we broke the front wing so we basically went all the way to the back of the grid and then progressively we were picking [places] one by one."
The Red Bull driver showed a great recovery when he was able to fight his way from the back of the grid all the way to the front.
"Things were going well, we had really strong pace on that first stint, so we put ourselves back in contention."
At one point, Checo overtook Charles Leclerc for the lead of the race. It seemed like he would have a chance to score a win, but his pace dropped right after, and Leclerc retook his position.
"With Charles, he went straight, and it was quite difficult out there with a gust of wind that we had a few times."
Max Verstappen then overtook both Perez and the Ferrari driver, but the fight for the second step of the podium was still on.
The Monegasque driver went wide in one turn, which led Perez into the second place, but then caught up with him by the final lap of the race and overtook the Mexican by sending it down the inside of turn 14.
"I ended up locking up a few times, but luckily we kept it on track. Then in the end with Charles, I wasn't expecting him [to make the move]."
Perez said he would not expect Leclerc to catch up with him so much, which was the reason for not going defensive, but that ultimately cost him the second position.
"He was point seven [on time delta behind], but then the braking zone he was, he was there, so well done to him."
While he might have hoped for a better result at one point of the race, Perez showed his team he can deliver strong performances this weekend at Las Vegas Strip Circuit and secured second place in the Drivers' Championship.
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