Suspense invaded the asphalt in Melbourne, but not Checo Pérez’s car. The Mexican driver finished second in the Australian Grand Prix after a weekend as exhausting as it was full of rage for Red Bull. His partner, Max Verstappen, had to give up the race after the car caught fire. The one from Jalisco fought to reach his place on the podium, the first of the season and, incidentally, taught the two Mercedes a lesson.
The Australian Sunday looked to be very good for the Mexican who started from third position. In front of him were Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. Pérez struggled at the start against his teammate to try not to hit him with the car and that opened the way for a Lewis Hamilton who snatched third place from him. Bad communication between the Red Bulls. Chance, however, entered the Australian track and played bad for Carlos Sainz, who had problems with the Ferrari and had to leave.
In the relaunch of the race, Checo Pérez had the seven-time Formula 1 champion in his sights. The Red Bull’s power had proven to be superior to that of the Mercedes. Also in terms of stability. It was at that moment where the expertise showed that it is superior to the dressing gown. On the tenth lap, the Mexican won the inside curve to overtake him. A maneuver that once again showed that the quality behind the wheel does not depend on the passport, nor on age.
The worker Checo Pérez fought to keep that valuable third place. Hamilton lost the distance and was having trouble controlling the car’s jumps. From lap 16 to 19, the Briton took stability out of the pocket to close the gap and attack the Latin American again. While that battle was going on, Verstappen asked to change tires; The Mexican came out to change his on lap 21, something that made him go back to partial ninth place.
Hamilton won the battle against Pérez on tire strategy. The rivalry between the two was shown again on lap 23. The Red Bull man managed to overtake him. The British knew that he had lost. And, again, another car that could no longer provoked the safety car. Sebastian Vettel’s car ended up out of action. The safety car was a setback because Fernando Alonso and George Russell were ahead.
At the second restart of the race, Checo Pérez was tall enough to know when to attack Alonso and his Alpine. On lap 30, the Red Bull was able to do more and now he had to try to catch up with the more than two seconds difference that Russell had. It was the moment of the Mexican attack. “Tire management is more important than position management,” Russell was warned over the radio. “That’s not what I want to hear!” replied the second Mercedes driver. The Mexican gave the second blow to the Silver Arrows team on lap 37 to take third place.
Another twist in the Australian script manifested itself. On lap 39, Verstappen had to abandon the race due to problems with the car that caught fire. The reigning Formula 1 champion left frustrated, as happened in Bahrain. That left Pérez in second place, with no chance of fighting Leclerc, more than 14 seconds behind.
Doubts hovered over the energy drink team’s garage. Would Pérez’s car also have a similar problem? The engineers tried to defuse the situation. There were no mechanical problems. The only Red Bull in the Albert Park Circuit had a mistake when turning and paid for it by losing 1.5 seconds. Behind him, fortunately for him, Hamilton and Russell were battling it out for third place.
The Mexican, who missed the podium in Bahrain on the last lap and also in Saudi Arabia where he won the poleHe didn’t want any surprises and took care of the condition of his tires to avoid any unexpected potholes. Thus, he added the sixteenth podium in a career that began in 2011, in a very bitter start for the red buffalo team. So far, the Mexican is fourth in the world championship, above Hamilton and Verstappen. He is surpassed by Sainz, Russell and Leclerc.
Checo Pérez’s 16 times among the best
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Checo Pérez added the sixteenth podium in his 11-year career in Formula 1. He made his debut in 2011 and has recorded two victories: 2020 in Shakhir and 2021 in Baku. In addition to four second places (Malaysia and Italy in 2012, Turkey in 2020 and Australia 2022) and 10 third places (Canada in 2012, Bahrain in 2014, Russia in 2015, Monaco and Baku in 2016 and 2018, in the Grand Award from France, Turkey, the United States and Mexico City in 2021).
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