Sergio Perez says Red Bull had more pace than he could show in F1 Las Vegas GP as he feels the strategy was a disaster in the end due to degradation.
It was another disaster for Red Bull’s Perez on Saturday of F1 Las Vegas GP when he was knocked out in Q1. It set him back in the grand prix and he was forced to start on the hard compound. He made gradual step and tried to extend his first stint, but it went in vain.
The tyre situation wasn’t good for everyone due to graining and high degradation. Red Bull thought about a one stop for Perez to start on the hard compound and switch to soft as opposed to medium. But they eventually had to change the strategy which hampered a chance to score big.
He managed to fight back still to end up 10th but it was eventually a disaster in a grand prix where teammate Max Verstappen clinched his fourth F1 title. “I think we were not expecting this level of degradation,” said Perez to media. “So we thought starting on the hard will give us opportunity to go very long and then switch for the medium for a very relative short stint, but it wasn’t the case.
“The track was very green in the beginning, and we grained the hard, which meant that we had to do a very long stint on the on the medium and then going onto the hard, it was just a total disaster, unfortunately. But we were not expecting this level of degradation, so it didn’t work out the strategy, for us. We definitely had a lot better pace than where we finished.
“But I don’t think we maximised the result, but we got the strategy wrong today unfortunately. I think yesterday, we compromised the qualifying with the tyres, so we’ve got some work to do to make sure that these things don’t happen on our side. It’s [constrictors’ title] not mathematically lost, we’re going to keep pushing. I really hope that in Qatar we can turn things around and be a lot more competitive.
“I think we really need to solve the issues we’ve had this year. I think the team knows exactly where we are at, and Red Bull is the best team, and I believe that we can have a much better car for next year,” summed up Perez, who noted about the three-wide move against Liam Lawson and Kevin Magnussen at Turn 14, when he took the inside line to sneak past both.
That was crucial for his race which allowed him to move into the Top 10. “That was quite a dangerous move with Kevin and Liam, they defend pretty strongly but overtaking both the cars at 350 or something speed is good,” reflected Perez. “For sure, that was best part of my race.”
The recovery drive was all good but his future still hangs in the balance. Christian Horner was fine with the drive into the Top 10, but from a constructors’ point of view, he felt Red Bull had to score more than McLaren in a grand prix when the Woking-based team faltered.
“Well, look, I mean, obviously, you know, a single point from Checo, I mean, it was a good drive from him, a good recovery, but the problem is we’re starting out of position on a day that McLaren were weak, we would have liked to have taken more points out of them today,” said Horner.
Here’s Sergio Perez clearing two cars: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-las-vegas-grand-prix-perez-pulls-off-brilliant-double-overtake-to-take-two-cars-in-one-corner.1816587664485120540
Here’s Lando Norris, Andrea Stella on Max Verstappen
Here’s how F1 Las Vegas GP panned out
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