“He clipped my rear tyre with his front right tyre” – The Constructors’ Championship is pretty much Mercedes’ again after Sergio Perez’s Saudi Arabia DNF hands Mercedes a 28-point lead, with the finale at Abu Dhabi to go.
Unless a miracle happens and one of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas suffer a DNF at Abu Dhabi (at the very least), Mercedes will reign supreme over Formula 1 for the eighth consecutive season.
This after Red Bull driver Sergio Perez crashed out of the race yesterday in Jeddah after a collision with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The points gap is now 28 – a seemingly impossible task – but the Mexican remains hopeful.
“It wasn’t the best weekend for the team, we lost crucial points in the Constructors’ Championship, so we are going to Abu Dhabi now to try and turn things around.
“We were slightly unlucky with the first red flag but we got away well after the second restart. We got past [Pierre] Gasly and Charles and as I was coming out of turn three, there just wasn’t enough room for everyone given how the corner was.
“I ended up tangling with Charles, he clipped my rear tyre with his front right tyre. It was a bad moment for everyone but just a very unlucky one.
“It’s just a big shame because we needed those points. I stayed with the car out on track because we were trying to turn the engine back on. We thought we could restart it but it was a bit on the hot side, so we had to retire.
“It was a very important race for the team so this one hurts a lot, but there is hope for Abu Dhabi. There is still optimism and something to fight for and we will give the final race of the season everything, so let’s look forward.”
