The first Sprint race winner of 2023 is Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver was starting on the front row after the earlier Sprint Shootout, and managed to pass Charles Leclerc easily for the lead on Lap 8.
Perez’s first words as winner were for his team, in order to thank Red Bull for the opportunity to score the win:
“Really happy, pleased for the whole team. They’ve done a tremendous job. It’s not easy this format, it puts a lot of pressure on drivers, mechanics and engineers. So, to be able to come away with the maximum points, it’s a good start.”
After highlighting the importance of his team’s work and preparation for the new weekend format, the provisional runner up in the drivers’standings focused already on the main event coming up tomorrow:
“I’m really proud of my guys, because if you look back, we come from a four week break and straight into this new type of format. I think we’ve done a great job, but tomorrow is what matters and we need to focus on that.”
Even if he has been successful in the Sprint Race, Perez believes that there’s still work to be done in order to prepare the full length race in the best way:
“We were able to learn a bit, but obviously tomorrow we are going to be on much higher fuel loads, track conditions are going to be different. I think there is good learning today.”
He went on to recall the key moments that lead him to yet another win in the Azerbaijan GP event, and the strggles he encountered at the ned of the race with tyre degradation, which had left him worried about the Ferrari driver coming back at him:
“I think it was key to make sure that we had good pace, good rhythm, that we pushed in the key moments of the race, and that really made the difference. In the end, it was a really nice executed weekend from the whole team.
“I did have a bit of degradation on my tyres, so when Charles was staying on my DRS I could not pull the gap early enough to break that DRS, so that made it a little bit tricky.”
In spite of not having the opportunity to start again from the front row, the former Azerbaijan GP winner is hopeful for the upcoming event as well: “P3 is not ideal for tomorrow’s race, but I will give it a go and fight for the win.
“I’m confident that I will be fighting for the win, but let’s see. It’s Baku, anything can happen. I just want to make sure I deliver when it matters,” he concluded.
Championship leader Max Verstappen ended the race in the same position he had started it, on the lowest step of the podium. His race was made more difficult by a Lap 1 racing incident with George Russell, which left the Dutch driver with floor and sidepod damage.
Verstappen believes that there would have been good chances of him catching Leclerc, and thus gaining the points he needed in order not to lose part of his gap in the championship standings to Perez, if the collision hadn’t happened:
“It’s always difficult to say but normally, yes. Bit of a shame, of course, because that compromises your whole race, but at the end to still be here third is OK.”
The Red Bull driver, who will start the Azerbaijan GP from the front row for the first time in his career, is looking forward to the race, where he in his opinion him and his teammate can have another positive race:
“It’s a bit different tomorrow, of course, starting on the high fuel loads, and also higher track temps, so, I think naturally it will be a bit tougher on the tyres for everyone.
“But again, I think the most important thing is to just get clean through lap one, and then you’ll see what the car will do in terms of how it reacts and how it responds. And then normally, I think we have a good race pace,” he concluded.
Red Bull’s Team Principal Christian Horner was radiant when talking about Perez’s extremely positive performance, and praised his tyre management ability on Sky Sports:
“It was a brilliant race from Checo. He was sensible on the first lap, he wanted to be there in that first DRS zone because I think he wanted to get the job done quickly so that he could focus on managing the tyres, and you know he made that happen.
“He had a blinding middle sector on that second lap, used the shortened DRS, made the pass into Turn 1 and then was able to eke out at the gap Charles was hanging in there using the benefit of the DRS. Once he broke it, he was able to manage the race confortably from there,” he concluded, highlighting the impressiveness of Perez’s driving in the Sprint Race.
Photo Credits: Red Bull Content Pool
