After a disappointing qualifying session in Hungaroring that left him only in ninth position, Sergio Perez managed to jump up to third, earning the last spot on the podium. An impressive result considering the narrowness of the track and its slow corners that makes it hard to pass.
Photo credit: Red Bull Racing
The Mexican driver started the race on the hard compound, which helped him maximise his first stint. This alternative strategy left Lewis Hamilton vulnerable in the later stages and helped him pass Oscar Piastri’s damaged McLaren, too.
Checo properly got his elbows out during the race with his moves on Piastri and Russell, bringing some good action during a rather dull race.
When asked about the recovery drive he managed to pull, the 33-year-old said: “It was a tough race, very hot out there, very demanding, physically but also mentally, looking after the tyres, especially with the strategy that we were on, that hard compound was very tricky, but we managed to do it well.
“It felt very low grip initially, but just to follow around and to overtake, there were times basically we just had one line because (there was) a lot of rubber and we were damaging a lot the tyres, so it’s not easy to overtake out there today, as usual, it’s a track that’s really very difficult to overtake, but I think we managed to execute it a good strategy.
“It’s obviously a good result; now I just have to find that consistency, make sure that we operate on that level but it’s been a very good day in the championship for the team to do this record of twelve victories in a row, it’s incredible to be part of (the team), and now I’m looking forward massively to Belgium.”
Red Bull brought updates to it’s car ahead of this round, but their qualifying performance was nowhere near its usual pace; he expressed how the car should perform better in Spa-Francorchamps next weekend.
“We saw yesterday that the gap over one lap is very small, five-tenths between the top 10, but hopefully, we are able to see the real pace of the car in Belgium; it should suit the car a bit better, so we’ll see there.”
