Sergio Perez admits that DNFs has hit his chances in the first half of the 2021 F1 season but he is still optimistic for himself in the second half.
For once, Red Bull’s Perez was in with a good chance in the drivers’ standings where he went neck and neck with teammate Max Verstappen ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. But couple of DNFs in the last few rounds, has set him behind in the pack.
He still sits third with 173 points – five behind Leclerc – but to Verstappen, he is down by 85 points and only has about nine races to to put any kind of challenge. It is an uphill task considering his pace has slowed down a bit to go with the retirements and loss of points.
But he is hopeful of his chances still being a bit more optimistic. “I think it’s been a very good first half of the season, very complete, putting good races together, good results, good consistency, so I think it’s there and everything is open in the championship,” said Perez.
“I think what has really killed my first half of the season has been the DNFs, to be honest. Without those DNFs my championship would have looked a lot different to what it is now. But overall, I think there are a lot of positives to take already from this half season. Still, it’s a very long season,” summed up Perez.
While Red Bull has a good chance for their driver to win the title, on the teams’ side, they are leading too against Ferrari, even though the Italian outfit has had good pace so far. The lack of reliability has hurt them hugely which is why they are 97 behind in the standings.
Despite the upperhand, Perez is being cautious about the situation knowing the pace that Ferrari has. “I think at the moment everything is still very open, so we have to keep pushing,” he said.
“Ferrari have been a bit faster than us in the last couple of races, so we just have to keep pushing hard and anything can happen. I think when we return… we go under way very quickly so we will see after three or four races… where everything is at. So hopefully by then we will be able to close up the gap,” summed up Perez.
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