Sergio Pérez still believes “everything is open” in the Formula 1 title fight after the summer break, although some failures have “nullified” his season so far.
Pérez clinched his second win for Red Bull at the Monaco Grand Prix in May to move within 15 points of team-mate Max Verstappen at the top of the championship, but since then the fortunes of the two have diverged.
While Verstappen has won four of the six races since Monaco, Pérez has only two second places to show for the same period, as well as retirements in Canada and Austria.
Pérez optimistic: “Without my DNFs, the World Cup would look very different”
As a result, the gap between the two Red Bull drivers before the last nine races after the summer break has grown to 85 points, which is why Pérez mourns the failures. Already at the season opener in Bahrain he didn’t see the checkered flag.
“It’s still a very long season,” Pérez said ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. “What really bothered me in the first half of the season was the DNFs, to be honest. Without them my championship would be a lot different than it is now. But overall I think I can take a lot of positives from this half of the season.”
Pérez was sidelined in Bahrain by a fuel pump problem before a gearbox problem forced him to retire in Canada in mid-June. In Austria, Pérez was knocked out after a collision with George Russell on the first lap, with Russell receiving a time penalty for the collision.
Although these incidents cost Pérez a few points, things didn’t go much better for the competition either. His team-mate Verstappen dropped out in second place in Bahrain and Australia, while Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc had to give up three times in the lead. His Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz has even retired four times.
Pérez happy with his performance in 2022
While the retirements have hurt Pérez’s championship hopes, he appears to have made a step forward in 2022 with the Red Bull car after struggling with the troubled RB16B car in 2021.
The Mexican’s good performances prompted Red Bull to give him a new two-year contract until the end of 2024, which he signed just before his Monaco win. When asked how he would rate his season so far compared to previous campaigns, Pérez said it was “pretty up there”.
“I think it was a very good first half of the season, very complete, with good races, good results and of course good consistency,” said Pérez. “I think we’ve done it and everything is still open in the championship.”
Pérez warns about Ferrari: “Everything is still open”
Red Bull go into the second half of the season 97 points clear of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship but Pérez warns against getting complacent as “everything is still very open”.
“We have to keep up the pressure,” he says. “Ferrari has been a bit quicker than us in the last few races so we just have to keep pushing hard. Anything can happen.”
“I think the season will start very quickly after the break, so we’ll see where we stand after three or four races after the summer break. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up by then,” hopes the Mexican.