Sergio Pérez regretted not having taken advantage of the virtual safety-car caused by Carlos Sainz's breakdown to make the pit-stop, but acknowledged that he had too many problems with tire degradation, which took him out of the fight with Max Verstappen for the victory in Baku
Sergio Pérez seemed to have everything to win the Azerbaijan GP in Baku after taking the lead from Charles Leclerc right at the start, but a huge degradation problem on the medium tires took away the Mexican's chances, who finished second this Sunday (12). Pérez regretted not doing like Leclerc, who made a pit-stop during the virtual safety-car, but admitted that he had no way to compete with Max Verstappen due to excessive wear problems on the medium compounds.
Pérez believes that having stopped at the VSC could have turned the tables on Max, after all, the Dutchman passed the Mexican still in the first stint, when the #11 was dragging on the track with his tires in tatters.
"Unfortunately, we missed the moment to stop with VSC. We had a miscommunication, and by the time we wanted to stop, it was too late. We were unlucky there, it would have made a difference in our race as I was leading," he said.
The Mexican now seeks to understand what prompted so much wear on the tires that started the race, especially since he saw Verstappen so much faster in the final part of the stint.
"I had a lot of degradation on the medium tires. We need to understand what generated that because certainly Max was much better than me on the medium tires. But still, it was a good result for the team. The team made the right choices, Max took the lead, and we got a good result on a track where anything can happen," he added.
Pérez is in second place in the Drivers' World Championship, with 129 points. The distance to Verstappen is 21 points, while the lead over Charles Leclerc is 13.
Formula One 2022 returns next week with the Canadian Grand Prix, the ninth round of the season.