There pole position conquered by Sergio Perez in the qualifications of Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2022 enters the history of Formula 1 by right for three different reasons: in addition to being the first obtained in his career by the Red Bull driver, the result also beat a curious record linked to the greatest number of tests disputed by a driver before obtaining one lap valid for pole, explained here in detail. In addition to these two personal statistics, there is finally another dedicated to the nationality of the 32-year-old; thanks to this goal, in fact, ‘Checo’ has become the first Mexican to have snatched a pole position in Formula 1, equaling two other nations in this special ranking.
Before him, in fact, two other drivers had managed to bring the colors of their flag in front of everyone on the starting grid, obviously for the first and only time. While waiting for another Mexican to enter the golden roll of pole positions reserved for nations, Perez is currently the only one in his country to share this figure with the Poland and the Venezuelarespectively represented by Robert Kubica and Pastor Maldonado. Before a serious accident compromised his career in the top flight, Kubica managed to take the fastest qualifying lap at the Bahrain GP 2008, behind the wheel of the same BMW Sauber with which he obtained his first and only victory in Canada, also in that season. More surprising, however, was the case of Maldonado in Spanish GP 2012, still remembered today for being the weekend in which Williams took their last F1 victory. The Venezuelan, in an already complex period in terms of competitiveness for the Grove team, unexpectedly conquered the pole position, then climbed to the top step of the podium in the race. Here too, Montmelò’s success was the first and only one for a driver from Venezuela. Conversely, Perez is not the only Mexican to have won in F1, sharing the record of success with Pedro Rodriguez, who climbed the top step of the podium twice in the late 1960s.
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