Sergio Pérez is very satisfied with his performance in Japan and is also happy with his overtaking actions in 130R. It’s not the most common spot on the circuit for overtaking, but it gave Pérez a lot of adrenaline. Because the pace was so good at Suzuka, the Mexican expects that China will also be a good track for them.
Pérez had an excellent weekend in Japan if we look at last year. That’s where things went wrong on Saturday, and on Sunday too, when he dropped out. This time he took second place twice. He qualified 66 thousandths behind Max Verstappen and then took P2 to complete Red Bull’s one-two for the third time. “Yes, it started really well on Saturday and on race day we had a good start,” said Pérez at the FIA press conference afterwards.
“Unfortunately, I think we were surprised by the temperature increase,” Pérez continues. “I think with the balance problem in the first stint we just couldn’t get further forward which meant the relegation was a little bit higher and with Lando having two sets of hard tires it affected our race a little more than I would have liked.” , says the Mexican. ‘I think we had everything under control in that second stint, where we got a better feeling for the balance. In the third stint everything was fine.’
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Pérez also managed to get his overtakes done quickly. He passed both Mercedes men in 130R. “Spending time behind one of the slowest cars, considering how relegated they were, was quite punishing. So I just went for it. And it happened both times at 130R. It’s quite fun to go there with two cars,” Pérez laughs. The 34-year-old driver from Guadalajara finished twelve seconds behind his teammate, but also received praise from Helmut Marko and Christian Horner.
Shanghai similar: ‘Should also be good for us’
The paddock will remain in Asia for a while, as the teams will travel to China in two weeks. For the first time since the corona pandemic, Formula 1 returns to the Shanghai International Circuit. Pérez thinks things should turn out fine there. “It’s a bit of a similar circuit, I’ll say, with a lot of fast corners,” says the Mexican. “I think if we can be fast here, we can be fast in many other races, so it should be a good track for us too,” said the Red Bull driver.
