Sergio Perez had a topsy-turvy weekend at the Red Bull Ring, the home of his team, where the stakes on his performance were high considering his oscillating performance compared to the consistency of his teammate, the reigning World Champion, Max Verstappen.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
He missed Thursday’s media day due to getting sick on Wednesday night, He subsequently fared poorly during the Friday qualifying session by violating track limits through the last two turns, which resulted in three lap times being deleted and elimination from Q2.
He was able to finish in second place in the sprint race on Saturday, and on Sunday, he managed to move up from 15th place to claim the final podium spot.
It was difficult for the Mexican driver to achieve this result due to the varied tyre strategies used on the grid and the 5-second penalty that some drivers received.
But during the last stint, he distinguished himself by outdueling Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and Lando Norris of McLaren to finish third.
After the race, he expressed his happiness over his performance, he said: “Yeah, I’m pleased with that result; it was a good race, we had good pace, so I’m really pleased with that, and now, I look forward for Silverstone.
“I have been really, really weak. I was sick on Thursday. So, it hasn’t been an easy weekend.
“High fevers, no sleep, during the weekend. So, a great recovery from the team, fantastic strategy and we had great pace.”
He also mentioned how the track limits violations hindered his efforts through the weekend, a problem that plagued most of the drivers with more than 100 laps deleted during the race, adding: “You know, it’s been a very tricky weekend for me; track limits for me made things difficult.”
On his health concerns ahead of the British Grand Prix he said: “I’ve been having a high fever pretty much every night, so I’m not 100% physically, but I hope that I am able to recover for Silverstone.”
