Sergio Pérez, F1 driver

Red Bull continues to be the dominant team in 2024, but its race performance was less convincing in last month's Australian Grand Prix, in which Ferrari looked to edge ahead.The Melbourne race was marked by heavy front graining, which is believed to be a factor in why Ferrari was so strong relative to Red Bull.Max Verstappen's early retirement meant it was much harder to make comparisons, but ...

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With Perez returning to the Japanese Grand Prix for the first time since one of his most disappointing events of the 2023 campaign, Horner was especially intrigued about how well the Mexican would do.So, with Perez’s previous best qualifying performance in Japan having been fourth place on the grid in 2022, he offered to pay out a hefty wager if his driver could get himself on the front row of ...

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Perez missed out on pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix to reigning world champion team-mate Max Verstappen by a slender 0.066 seconds as Red Bull scored a 1-2 result.With Perez out of contract at the end of the year, many believed RB driver Daniel Ricciardo would take his place. However, the Australian has struggled against stablemate Yuki Tsunoda.Combined with the availability of Carlos ...

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Under brighter and slightly warmer conditions compared to Friday, Verstappen lined up first at the end of the pitlane and led off on a long first stint on the mediums, which meant he set the first place benchmark at 1m30.265s, but was soon supplanted by the soft-shod Hamilton.The Mercedes driver’s 1m30.065s first flier remained the top spot throughout the first third of the one-hour session ...

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Alonso was given a drive-through, converted into a 20-second time penalty, for the way his defensive tactics against George Russell in Melbourne contributed to a last-lap crash.Opinions over whether or not the stewards were right to punish Alonso remain divided in the paddock, although the majority of drivers are surprised that the incident triggered a sanction.Perez believes that going as far as ...

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Perez started the Melbourne race in sixth after picking up a three-place penalty for impeding, and having lost a place to George Russell at the start he recovered to finish fifth.He reported that the balance didn't feel right but it was only after the chequered flag that the team discovered that the tear-off had become lodged in the floor of the car."We went long on the first stint," said Red Bull ...

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Polesitter Verstappen reported a stuck brake from the start of the Melbourne race and after the issue made him lose the lead to Sainz on lap 2, the Dutchman's right rear brake finally gave up on lap 4, forcing him to retire.But Ferrari's race performance and the way it handled front tyre graining, which had already looked promising in practice, has prompted Perez to say that Sainz would have ...

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Perez was on a warm-up lap for his first Q1 run when a hotlapping Hulkenberg encountered him in the middle of the racing line on Turn 13, Albert Park's slow penultimate left-hander.The Mexican was only told very late by his race engineer that the Haas driver was behind him, with the focus instead being on preparing his flying lap.Perez was summoned by the stewards after qualifying, in which he ...

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Having looked good in Friday's practice, Leclerc was less happy in Saturday's FP3 session, and in qualifying he struggled with his front tyres.He was fourth in Q1 and second in Q2, but tried a front wing change for his final run in Q3 in an attempt to find more performance.Leclerc was left a frustrated fifth after the "very aggressive" wing adjustment failed to pay off."To be honest, I think it's ...

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Verstappen had not headlined a single session across the weekend so far, but dialled in his pace throughout the qualifying sessions and found a quarter-second advantage at the very end to deny Ferrari a chance at pole.Sainz had been fastest in both Q1 and Q2 and looked set to challenge for pole on his return to F1 after missing the Saudi Arabia round with appendicitis, but found a far more ...

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An early crash for Lance Stroll meant Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton were a factor in the lead fight after a brief safety car period where they stayed out and did not pit, but they eventually finished in the pack behind Ferrari debutant Oliver Bearman.At the start, Verstappen and Leclerc launched in unison from the front row, with the polesitter soon swinging across his rival on the run to Turn ...

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The Mexican finished runner-up behind race winner Max Verstappen in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, but the 22.4 second gap to the front shows how much more progress he needs to make.But while the team is confident that Perez is more at one with this year’s F1 challenger than last season’s RB19, he acknowledges that there is still plenty of room for improvement.“I think at the moment ...

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Although Perez finished the Bahrain Grand Prix 22.4 seconds behind Verstappen, his race had been compromised by a lowly grid position that left him trapped behind George Russell and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz early on.But once he had made his way forward, Perez found a run of pace that suggested he is more on top of this year’s RB20 than he had been of the team’s 2023 ...

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The Mexican finished the Q3 session 0.358 seconds off Verstappen, with Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Carlos Sainz all just pipping him.Read Also:


Formula 1Leclerc: Ferrari 'lost rhythm' to beat Verstappen to Bahrain F1 pole


Perez heads into this season knowing that he has to perform in order to retain his Red Bull seat for 2025 and beyond.Despite his campaign getting ...

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Sainz's team-mate Charles Leclerc topped a curtailed morning session, which was halted with 1h38 on the clock after he hit a loose drain cover and forced Ferrari to change the floor on its SF-24.The session wasn't restarted, but an extra hour was added to the afternoon session instead, meaning some teams had to alter their run plans.Sergio Perez, for example, remained aboard the Red Bull RB20 ...

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Hamilton dropped a bombshell on Mercedes earlier this month when he revealed that he was activating an escape clause in his contract to join Ferrari from 2025.While Hamilton wanted the news out there as early as possible to avoid speculation distracting from his campaign, it does mean that how he works with Mercedes will not be the same going forward.It is almost certain that he will be sidelined ...

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Red Bull was the last F1 team to unveil its 2024 challenger last week, with the design featuring several bold ideas – especially around the sidepod and engine cover area.The squad has seemingly drawn inspiration from other outfits, including Mercedes' bodywork with gulleys running from the halo through the top of the engine cover.Read Also:


Formula 1Red Bull set to unleash more ...

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Although he finished the 2023 season as runner-up in the F1 championship, Perez had a campaign to forget in many regards, 290 points off team-mate Max Verstappen and bereft of any victories in the last 18 rounds after missing out on Q3 no fewer than nine times.Matters were not helped by him feeling less and less comfortable with the RB19 as the season progressed."We had some issues as the car was ...

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Perez had arrived in Miami just six points back from Verstappen in the drivers’ standings and with a 2-2 record for GP race wins following his triumph in Jeddah and his Baku victory double in the first sprint weekend of the season.The Mexican driver’s chances of taking the lead in the standings were then greatly enhanced in the first of three 2023 races in the USA when Verstappen’s early Q3 ...

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The Mexican endured a rollercoaster campaign this season, starting the season strongly but fading away before bouncing back in the final races.Red Bull is committed to Perez for the start of the 2024 campaign but has been clear that it wants him to battle more consistently nearer the front if it is to consider offering him a fresh deal.But with the squad happy to bide time over making a decision ...

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Perez finished second in the 2023 championship on just half the number of points of team-mate Max Verstappen, who took an unprecedented 19 race wins as Red Bull enjoyed total dominance with its RB19.Following a bright start in which he won two races and ran Verstappen close in the standings, the wheels fell off Perez's championship challenge in June as his persistent struggles caused increased ...

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It feels like ages ago since Perez lived up to his once-valid 'street race king' moniker and won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, cutting team-mate Max Verstappen's lead to just six points as he vowed to take the 2023 title fight all the way.His pole in the subsequent Miami Grand Prix, with Verstappen down in ninth on the grid, was a chance to underline those credentials, but as the Dutchman scythed ...

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Perez attempted to dive up the inside of Norris under braking for the Turns 6-7 chicane in a scrap for fourth place on lap 47 of 58.But the Red Bull driver appeared to need two goes at turning in to make the apex, with the later correction sending Perez clattering into the front-left wheel of the McLaren MCL60.Perez was handed a five-second penalty for the bash, meaning he dropped from second ...

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Perez was on the receiving end of a five-second penalty for hitting McLaren's Lando Norris when he tried to overtake the Briton.The Red Bull driver argued Norris was to blame as he felt he was ahead, while Norris said he was actually making room to let Perez pass on purpose, although the Mexican crashed into him anyway.At the time, Perez vehemently disagreed with the penalty, which demoted him ...

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Perez earned a five-second penalty for clashing with Lando Norris at Turn 6, where the Red Bull driver appeared to block off the corner to stop Norris from turning in.This ensured a frantic showdown between Russell, Perez, and Charles Leclerc - who was hoping to deliver a swing in the constructors' championship to help Ferrari beat Mercedes.Leclerc hoped to help Perez claim third in the race, and ...

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