Red Bull’s Sergio Perez had a hot weekend at Silverstone, leaving a race weekend without points for the second time this season. With only the fastest lap as consolation, Perez said the British Grand Prix was an unforgettable experience for him.
Perez twisted out of the F1 sprint and finished it on Saturday, which meant he started Sunday’s Grand Prix from the pit lane. He made it to P8, but had to pit late to take away Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap bonus point (however, since Perez ended up outside the top ten, he didn’t get the bonus point himself). Contact with Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen added further injuries towards the end of the race, with Perez ending up in 16th place.
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When asked after the race if it was a weekend to forget, he replied: “Yes, definitely. I think with my mistake yesterday we made a lot more progress today than yesterday, but in the end we could have finished seventh; I took better care of the tires than the people in front of me.
“But then we drove the fastest lap for strategic reasons. I think overall it was a weekend that we want to forget and come back stronger, ”he said.
Sergio Pérez thinks about the “weekend to forget” at the British Grand Prix
The Mexican confirmed that – without the late stop for soft tires, with which he only set the fastest lap with one lap to go – he could have finished seventh as he had Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in his sights.
“I think P7 was possible today; I think with a couple of laps I could have won Lance and Fernando, but in the end, for strategic reasons, we decided to stop and go for the fastest lap. It’s a weekend for us that we’ll forget and we’ve lost a lot of ground in the championship.
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“We have to regroup, work hard and come back as strong as possible in Hungary,” he added.
Sixteenth at Silverstone means Perez was last scoring at Silverstone in 2018 because the Mexican missed the Grand Prix brace on the track last year after contracting Covid-19. It may not be his happiest hunting ground, but Hungary – where Perez qualified fourth last season and seventh last season – is next.
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