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F1 | Sakhir GP | How Sergio Perez took a stunning first victory after opening lap incident

The 6th of December 2020 will be remembered forever in Mexican sport as Sergio Perez came from the back of the field to take a marvellous win.

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F1 | Sakhir GP | How Sergio Perez took a stunning first victory after opening lap incident
Fuente imagen: twitter.com/F1

It was an incredible day for the country of Mexico as Sergio Perez claimed a shock but well-deserved maiden win under the lights in Bahrain last night. Perez’s win ended a 50-year drought after the last win for a Mexican driver. Pedro Rodriguez was the victor at the 1970 Belgian GP. 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Checo Pérez (@schecoperez)

Perez’s remarkable comeback drive will be talked about for many years to come following the worst possible start. Frankly, Red Bull would be crazy not to put him in the second car next year. All the evidence is there that he can he deliver, even leaving aside his victory last night.

Let’s take a look at how he achieved history last night below.   

Leclerc leaves him with a mountain to climb 

Perez made an excellent start from 5th and thanks to Valtteri Bottas’ wobble at T2, he looked set to be P3 ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc. However, the Ferrari locked-up and hit the Racing Point; Perez was sent into a spin. While it was a race-ending incident for Leclerc and Verstappen, Perez could continue despite his car getting a sizeable whack from the Ferrari. 

However, it put him at the back of the field in P18 as he pitted and switched to mediums; a huge recovery was drive needed. Good points, never mind a win, seemed very unlikely.  

Quickly clears the backmarkers 

Checo needed to quickly clear the slower cars to make sure he didn’t lose too much time to the likes of Sainz, Ricciardo and Stroll. Just like in Portugal, he did exactly start. 

When the race got back underway on lap 7 following the Safety Car for that accident, the Mexican worked his way up from P18 to P11 within five laps; he dispatched of the Williams’, the Haas’, the Alfas and Vettel. He was only 8.6s adrift of Sainz in P3 because of those quick moves. 

Important move on Albon 

As has been the case for the vast majority of the 2020 season, the Thai driver couldn’t extract the maximum from the Red Bull and Perez needed to make a pass on him to keep in contact with his midfield rivals. 

On lap 21, a tour after both drivers had overtaken Norris, Perez made his move. Having the use of DRS, he hung his Racing Point around the outside of T4 and despite Albon’s best efforts, the Mexican claimed the inside of T5 with a delightful move. It was another fine example of his exceptional racecraft. He even managed to make all these moves despite a flatspot on one of the tyres that he picked up behind the Safety Car in the opening stages.  

He ran in P3 for five laps before making his second and final stop of the race with 40 laps to go. Perez rejoined in 9th and even a podium looked unlikely at that point.  

Works his way up to P3  

The second pitstops for the AlphaTauris, Ricciardo and Sainz moved Perez up to 5th by lap 55. Strong pace on the hard tyre allowed him to quickly close up on current teammate Stroll and his former stablemate Esteban Ocon and quickly joined their battle for P3. 

On laps 56 and 57, he made the crucial moves. He pressured Stroll into a big lock-up at turn 4 and the Canadian ran wide, gifting Checo P4. 

The next lap, he breezed by Ocon with the use of DRS heading into turn 4 and moved into the podium positions after finding himself down in P18 at the end of the opening tour.  

It has to be said that Checo made a stunning recovery, even before what happened next. His moves were clean and clinical. Unlike his teammate, he could get overtakes done.   

Mercedes open the door 

The V6 era has been utterly dominated by Mercedes. Apart from 2017 or 2018, it usually needs to be a very bad day at the office for them to give anyone else a chance of winning. That’s exactly what happened under the lights last night, though. 

A mixed tyre set for George Russell forced him into the pits again when the Safety Car was deployed for the front wing of Jack Aitken on the circuit. Valtteri Bottas’ 27.4s compounded Mercedes’ misery and Sergio Perez found himself in the lead, with Ocon and Stroll providing a buffer to Bottas and Russell. 


A masterclass from the front as Checo eases to first win 

Perez took full advantage of Mercedes’ nightmare in the pits. Whilst Russell had climbed back up to P2 and looked set to challenge the Mexican late in the race for victory until he cruelly picked up a puncture, Checo was magnificent out in the lead.  

The Mexican won by 10.518s from Esteban Ocon and almost 12s to teammate Stroll in P3. He’s regularly produced tyre management masterclasses and shown very strong race pace throughout his career, and he was utterly dominant vs his midfield rivals in the final part of the race as he drove off into the distance. 

Did he need some bad luck to befall the Mercedes drivers? Yes. Nonetheless, if you drive from the back of the field to P3 on merit, you’ve already done something special. Don’t forget, he was cruelly robbed of a deserved podium in the Bahrain Grand Prix seven days later. He was owed some luck from the racing gods.  

It took 190 races for Sergio Perez to get that maiden victory, a new record in Formula 1, but he richly deserves it. He grabbed his opportunity yesterday with one of the greatest drives through the pack to win a race. Congratulations, Checo.  

 

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