Sergio Perez came away with just two points from the Russian Grand Prix, finishing ninth on a difficult day in Sochi. He explained why, in a race in which his teammate jumped 19 positions, his own chances of progressing up the field dwindled.
The Mexican qualified eighth in Sochi, behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, and lost one position during the race, while teammate Max Verstappen finished second despite starting 20th. However, Perez was running third halfway through the race and appeared to be on his way to a podium before the rain started to fall with only five laps remaining.
“Yes it’s obviously very disappointing. I think we were extremely unlucky today,” he said. “Could have gone either way really, you know. if it rained a little bit less, then the people on the inters would have [suffered].
“If it rained a bit more, it obviously favoured them. I think at the point I was on the lap, it was a little bit too late to know, you know – the amount of rain we were going to have as well – so we were already on the podium, it was a tricky decision to make,” he explained.
Perez stopped for intermediate tyres on Lap 50, two laps later than teammate Verstappen, and finished P9 behind Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen. His first pit stop, on Lap 36, was just as costly, with the Mexican losing nearly nine seconds while stuck in the box. He was asked if this is a cause for concern ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix on October 10.
“No, I think we just have to see what went wrong, the boys have been doing really quick pitstops, so I think we just have to see what’s going on there and hopefully we are able to fix it going forwards,” he said.
“It’s a bit disappointing for myself but, yes, we just look forward onto the next one because we’ve shown pretty good pace this weekend,” concluded Perez.
The Red Bull driver is fifth in the championship after the Russian GP, with 120 points, just seven and a half points ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
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