Where was Sergio Perez? ‘Nightmare race’ in Spain with a one-minute Verstappen gap

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez signed a new deal recently but is still under threat.

Sergio Perez admitted his Spanish Grand Prix was a “nightmare of a race”, having not made the in-roads he wanted in Barcelona.

Perez headed into the weekend with the knowledge a three-place grid penalty was coming his way after driving back to the pit lane in an unsafe condition in Canada, which relegated him to 11th on the grid on Sunday – but while he had hoped for a podium before the weekend, eighth place was his return.

Sergio Perez explains ‘nightmare’ Spanish Grand Prix

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Perez saw himself caught in the midfield early on and stopped early in the race to get himself free air, moving to a three-stop strategy to look for a way forward in the Spanish Grand Prix.

He often found traffic on his way back through the pack, however, and he admitted his Red Bull struggled for grip as he was “sliding” through the corners, and found himself passed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri late in the race as he slipped back in the field.

Perez ended the race 59.5 seconds behind his team-mate and race winner Max Verstappen, and is now 108 points behind him in the Drivers’ Championship, but he believes the first part of the race is what cost him most on the day.

Perez told media including PlanetF1.com: “Yeah, the dependency we had where we started, it was so difficult to pass on that first stint; my race was over.

“I was stuck behind Nico [Hulkenberg] and I was just sliding around really badly, and it was a nightmare of a race. So, very difficult race overall.

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“In the end we switched to the three-stop, we managed to come back into Gasly and secure P8, but it was quite hard. I think basically everything was compromised on that first stint.”

Given the fact he had a penalty and he admitted he has been struggling for balance in his car, Perez said he took an experimental approach to free practice over the weekend.

When asked if he just needs a ‘clean weekend’, he responded: “Yeah, I think our weekend was very dirty in terms of we basically explored more than testing, probably, the car.

“From FP1 to FP2, I think we’ve never swung around on setup so many things. So I think we were a bit desperate, I’ll say, to try and find the balance.

“So we need to review all of that, but I see the light out of the tunnel.

“It’s the best you can have [to have another race straight away, ed.], because you take this experience as a learning curve and go on to the next one, there will be other challenges.

“It’s a long season ahead, so it’s just important to be able to keep our head down.”

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