Big disappointment for Sergio Perez at his home race in Mexico: The Red Bull driver, who dreamed of victory in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, collided with Charles Leclerc directly in the first corner and had to park his car at the end of the first lap.
“I had a great start,” reports Perez, who only started from fifth place, on “Sky”. In turn 1 he was right next to pole sitter Leclerc and his teammate Max Verstappen. “The gap was there,” asserts the Mexican, who was on the far left before Turn 1.
On the right side, his teammate, Leclerc, was in the “Red Bull sandwich” between them. “To be honest, I didn’t expect Charles to be in the middle,” said Perez, who tried to turn into the corner. But there was Leclerc, who was running out of space.
This is how contact came about and Leclerc’s front wing was damaged. While the Monegasse was able to continue driving, the Red Bull was so badly damaged that Perez called it a day. “I didn’t expect Charles to brake so late,” he explains to “DAZN”.
“He had a lot less room to maneuver than Max, who was on the inside, and I was the one who was able to brake the latest because I was on the outside,” says Perez, describing the incident from his perspective. However, this is not an accusation against Leclerc.
Perez had “probably the best start of the year”
“I think there was simply no room for three cars. It was a racing accident,” emphasizes Perez. Because he also admits that he consciously took full risks. “All I thought about was winning the race. I didn’t want to [nur] stand on the podium,” he clarifies.
“I shouldn’t say this, but looking back I should have backed off,” admits Perez. But as a racing driver you want to attack “especially at the home race”. “If the home race ends on the first lap, it will definitely be very sad,” he admits.
“But on the other hand, I’m very proud of myself because I gave it my all. I’m very proud of my team, we gave it our all the whole weekend. We probably had the best start of the year and just gave it a try,” he emphasizes .
Perez denies that he put too much pressure on himself after the recent mixed results and therefore overdid it. “No, the result will come. We are back, our pace is there. We know what was wrong,” he emphasizes.
“The results will come, I’m not worried about that. I’m sadder about the end result,” said Perez, who made it clear: “I have no doubt that I will be back in Sao Paulo.” However, he will no longer be able to correct his exit from the home race there.