“A lot of risks had to be taken”– Driver of the day from the Dutch Grand Prix claims his result would have been better if not for these two incidents.
Sergio Perez had an unfortunate end to his qualifying in the Dutch Grand Prix, where he got eliminated from Q1 after not reaching the flag on time for his last flying lap.
With P16, it was a huge mountain to climb, especially when he got demoted to two places down due to an initial hiccup in the race. From there, Perez made an impressive drive and managed to finish P8.
Winning the driver of the day with this result, Perez thinks it could have been better if those two incidents wouldn’t have happened during the race.
“We managed to minimise the damage, especially on this track which is very much impossible to overtake [at],” Perez explained to RacingNews365.com and other select members of the press. “A lot of risks had to be taken.
“Our race was really complicated a lot with Nikita in the beginning, because I flat-spotted my tyres. He moved really late in the braking [zone], and just to avoid him I flat-spotted my tyres, I had to come in and basically start our race again, and I think that cost us probably P6.”
Mick revealing to Sky Germany that Checo also approached him and said “What is he [Mazepin] doing?” in regards to Mazepin’s move against Mick during the race#DutchGP
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) September 5, 2021
The win made the day special
Overall, Perez thinks it was a good result, even though Red Bull couldn’t match Mercedes’ haul of 35 points compared to Red Bull’s 29 points on Sunday.
“It was a sensible race, apart from the touch with Lando as well, which [damaged the] right-hand side of the floor. It took away [performance] and I think that also cost us P6,” continued Perez.
“But the positive is obviously Max [Verstappen] won the race for the team, and we have our new engine, so we’re good for the rest of the year.”
