Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was happy to finish as best of the rest in F1 Mexico GP after he fought off Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in the final few laps.
Perez was rather chuffed with the outcome of F1 Mexico GP – his home race – which had an added excitement as he fended off Ricciardo’s charge, who at one point looked set to take seventh after running on an alternative strategy, switching from hard to medium.
Ricciardo botched an overtake attempt where the Renault driver was forced to run across the grass after missing the braking point at Turn 1, thereby losing out to Perez. He tried to come back on the Mexican but did not have enough legs then.
“I’m really happy,” said Perez. “I think we were perfect, not just in the race but also in qualifying. We’ve done a tremendous job as a team, so we can be very pleased with the strategy we did as a team.
“I think in the race, we basically executed a perfect race, which we needed. We didn’t have the pace to be there really as the Renaults, Mclarens, and Toro Rossos were quite a bit stronger than us, so very happy with this result at home.
“The first three teams, they are in another category, so this is another victory for us. I knew Ricciardo was very strong on the primes, so he came very close, with a big tyre delta, so it was going to be very hard.
“I tried to save a bit of tyres towards the end, and I think that helped me [against Ricciardo].” With the strategy advantage, Ricciardo expected an easier overtake than the one he ultimately failed to achieve as Perez’s pace and defending surprised him.
It also left him slightly angry while crossing the line. “I thought Perez would’ve been easy money,” said Ricciardo. “Obviously, as we saw into Turn 1, it wasn’t easy money at all. So actually, I crossed the line pretty frustrated at the end.
“Because I thought we would’ve had him, and had a good seventh, but at the time, you know, Max wasn’t too far in front, but in the end, eighth. So, seventh would’ve been nicer, but let’s say we kept the Mexicans happy with leaving Perez in front.”
Here’s how the F1 Mexico GP panned out
Here’s what Lewis Hamilton said about Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen
The story was written by Duncan Leahy and edited by Darshan Chokhani