F1 | Qatar GP | Perez’s redemption drive narrows the gap for the Constructors Championship
After starting out of the top-10, the Mexican managed a great recovery drive finishing fourth and gaining precious points for the title.
To many’s surprise, Sergio Perez’s was eliminated from Q2 during Saturday’s qualifying session. He started P11 with both Mercedes provisionally being in the top three – although Bottas was eventually handed a three-place penalty for failing to respect a single waved yellow flag.
¡¡¡Lo dimos todo!!!
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) November 21, 2021
Al final el VSC nos quitó la oportunidad del podium, ¡pero un 4to lugar fue mejor que nada!
Buenos puntos para el equipo y vamos con todo por las últimas dos. ¡Ya extraño el podium! Vamos @redbullracing #qatargp pic.twitter.com/N8KPbittrA
Starting out of the top ten, Perez had one big advantage over the rest of the cars ahead of him in the sense that he can choose his starting tyre compound, opening up more strategic opportunities for the driver who is notoriously good on his tyres.
By lap 30, the Mexican was already up in front fighting for the podium, which he would have probably achieved if it wasn’t for a dramatic sequence of events at the end of the Grand Prix.
“We managed to recover from qualifying and moved through the grid quickly from P11," said the Mexican, "we were in a very good position to be on the podium but unfortunately it didn’t work out".
Indeed, the last few laps saw the collapse of several tyres – including Bottas’, Russell’s, Norris’ and Latifi’s. The latter wasn’t able to drive till the pits entrance and had to his car at the border of track, causing the deployment of a Virtual Safety Car on lap 55.
"Ultimately, I think from a Team point of view we had to play it safe with the constructors in mind," commented Perez at the end of the race.
> Read the full race report: Hamilton wins dramatic Qatar GP, as tyre failures hit several drivers on the final few laps
Tyres failures and the VSC marked the end of Perez’s chances of reaching and overtaking Fernando Alonso, who finished the race in third place.
Perez further commented on the Grand Prix saying: "It was a very exhausting race, I was flat out the whole time, overtaking and pushing. We were changing our strategy throughout the race; at some stages, we were going for one-stop and at others two, but others’ tyres were exploding so we had to protect ours to prevent getting a puncture and maximise our position in the Constructor’s Championship".
"I don’t know if without it we would have definitely caught up with Fernando, but we would have been close. It is a bit of a shame but we managed to minimise the damage from Saturday and Valtteri didn’t score any points which is a big benefit to us.
Despite not reaching the podium, with Bottas forced to retire his car after a puncture and an alleged engine failure, Perez’s fourth place and Verstappen’s P2 allow Red Bull to reduce their gap to Mercedes in the Teams’ Standings.
Mercedes currently has 546,5 points while the Honda-powered team has only five points less, standing at 541,5. The battle has just become fiercer.
