Perez’s position at the Australian Grand Prix was fifth. The time to step up and take charge is whenever Max Verstappen experiences
technical issues during a race weekend. The Mexican then has the task of winning or placing as highly as possible. That proved to be
another challenging challenge for Checo in Melbourne.
Qualifying went badly, mostly due to Red Bull Racing’s own actions. Because Perez saw Nico Hulkenberg’s approach too late, he drove
in the path of the latter and was penalized three positions on the grid. As a result, he started the race on Sunday in sixth position after
finishing third in qualifying.
Was Perez truly able to match the leaders’ pace?
But Perez got off to a bad start and made things difficult for himself. For the first few laps, he was forced to follow George Russell as a
result. It took Perez until lap nine to be able to make a significant push ahead in open air after he was unable to pass the Mercedes
driver. Russell pulled into his first pit stop at that point.
Horner said Perez was moving at the same speed as the drivers ahead of him during the part of the race where he had free air. Later in
the race, Fernando Alonso’s tear-off hindered Perez. As Perez passed the Spaniard on lap 26, it became lodged beneath his vehicle.
Thus, Perez had a justification for not progressing past P5, but that justification is
First of all, Perez started the race in sixth place, losing ground to Russell early on and spending a considerable amount of time behind
the Brit. Perez could move faster, but not by much, as he passed Russell in the first stint and was able to run full power. Lando Norris
and Carlos Sainz were still competing at the same point and were generally faster than Perez. Almost every lap, Sainz outpaced Perez
by a second. Perez, then, very definitely lacked the leader’s pace.
Perez was once more stranded behind Russell during his pit stop. On this occasion, he overtook the British athlete and commenced
pursuing Alonso. Perez gave it his all once again in those four laps, but
Horner was obviously attempting to keep his driver safe. Perez did not even come close to that pace on a weekend when Verstappen
secured pole position and would have likely fought for the win in the race. On the weekend, when he had the opportunity to win a race,
he did not rise up. It’s not the greatest calling card he could have made, because his contract is about to expire.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!
