“It was a bit of damage control,” says Sergio Perez of his race in Barcelona. After failing to get past eleventh place on the grid in qualifying, he put in a good race to catch up and finished fourth. However, he missed his goal of reaching the podium by 3.5 seconds.
“It was very difficult to follow, especially when we were on similar tires. That cost me a lot of time in the first stint. We would have had to take more risks on the first lap,” analyzes the Red Bull driver .
Mercedes competitor George Russell, who started from the sixth row with Perez, passed him on lap 1 and also held his own in front of the Mexican at the finish.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner analyses: “I think that Checo lost touch on the first lap and that he didn’t have a good start. George managed to pass but went off the track and didn’t receive a penalty. I think that was the difference at the end of the day.”
“His race got better and better”, Horner praises Perez’s final phase, “and especially in the last stint he came back really strong. But he just didn’t have enough laps to fight for the podium. (…) Me think if he had qualified in the right position he would have been up there.”
Perez himself admits when asked if he still had hopes for the podium at the end: “It felt far away. At that point I thought that I wasn’t fighting with George, but rather with Carlos (Sainz; ed. d . R.).”
Simulation predicted fifth place for Perez
The Ferrari driver was fifth behind Perez, but had a proud ten seconds behind the Red Bull at the finish line. Mercedes were significantly stronger in Barcelona in second and third place. “They were actually pretty strong here. I think they had quite a good race pace,” Perez notes.
That’s why he couldn’t catch Russell in the last stint on softs and had to settle for fourth place. “The simulation predicted P5 on a clean race,” reveals Horner. “He made up one place with P4.”
“We thought maybe the Ferrari would have better race pace than it did. But the fact that he ended up within a few seconds of the podium and was chasing George shows that it was a very good comeback for Checo was, especially in the second half of the race,” said Horner.
“I think that will give him a lot of confidence going forward. He’s had a difficult Monaco, a difficult Saturday here, a stronger Sunday.”
Looking at the championship standings, where Perez is now 53 points short of team-mate Max Verstappen, who won yet again in a superior manner at Barcelona, the team boss says: “If you look at the gap between the two drivers, which is quite large, it will taking the pressure off Cheoc’s shoulders in many ways.”
Horner: Perez mustn’t put so much pressure on himself
“I think that will allow him to relax, not put himself under pressure and just find the form he had in the early races. (…) We already have in races like Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia I’ve seen what he’s capable of. He’ll find that form again in the near future.”
So Horner believes Perez can catch up in the title fight, but also says: “I don’t think there was a driver who would have beaten Max in this car. Checo is dealing with a driver who is at the peak of his form .”
“It’s very difficult. Mentally, it’s a really difficult thing to deal with. But like I said, I think now there’s this gap in the points that could take the pressure off him a bit. And the expectations he’s having confronts himself, he has to let go of it now and just be able to drive freely.”
Perez describes Barcelona as a “difficult weekend” where he had the feeling “that we weren’t quite there”. But his confidence is still high.
“I had a great season, a great pace in the car,” said the Mexican. “However, we’re working in such a narrow window that everything has to come together perfectly to have strong pace.” He hopes for that at the next Grand Prix.
Red Bull wants to celebrate their 100th victory in Canada
“Canada should be a strong race for us. But we can see how close it is at the moment. It will definitely be interesting.” And Horner adds: “Canada is a unique track. It’s always a great race and a different challenge. Checo has done well there before, as has Max.”
“The weather can always be a factor there, too. We’re going there with 99 wins, so we’re determined to do 100,” the Red Bull team boss looks ahead. But who will get him? At the moment everything speaks for Verstappen. Eventually he led the last two Grands Prix at every round.
“It’s a good phase,” says the world champion. “But we have to keep working and try to find more power. I’m happy with the car. And I think the last few race weekends have definitely been a lot more positive for me.”
“This is a weekend where I think it went really well. But we also know that it might not be the case at other tracks. So there’s still a lot of races to come where we’ll have to push hard again to do that to be able to win races,” warns the Red Bull driver.