“He’s got no radio comms” – The incredible tale of Sergio Perez miraculously finishing P5 at Bahrain, in the words of Red Bull’s chief engineer Paul Monaghan.
Sergio Perez’s Red Bull debut came to a screeching halt in the formation lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix. But the Mexican had the composure and poise to re-ignite the engine himself.
This because he lost all radio communication with his team, which is pushing hard to dethrone Mercedes. This has certainly impressed chief engineer Paul Monaghan, who explained how Perez performed the miracle.
“Before the race, there was a small electrical issue. We dealt with that. On the lap to the grid, [there was] no sign of any error but on the formation lap, the car started to have difficulties.
“Thank goodness for his presence of mind. He’s got no radio comms. We can’t tell him to do the ignition reset, but he did it for us.
“He was brilliant. He didn’t get frustrated, didn’t lose his motivation, he just got on with it, moved up through the field, had a decent race, and scored us a load of points from a formation lap when he was parked at the side of the road.”
Sergio Perez went on to score 12 points for his new team, with his teammate Max Verstappen winning 18. Perez is a big upgrade on Alex Albon, and alongside Verstappen, will provide immense competition to the reigning champions for 7 years, Mercedes.
“It’s quite entertaining, the sequence of events. The car has lost all electrical power and Checo has the presence of mind like your laptop’s gone wrong, switch it off, switch it on again.
“The steering wheel bursts back into life turns the engine back on, comes back, waits for everyone to form themselves up, and starts from the pitlane. As is often the case with intermittent faults, the car then runs faultlessly for the race.
Read more: “I was about to jump out of the car”- Sergio Perez on his car breakdown at race start
