A miscalculation by Red Bull removes Checo Pérez from the podium in Saudi Arabia

Checo Pérez had a weekend as unexpected as it was painful. The Mexican finished fourth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he had started from the privileged position for the first time in his career. The error pointed, this time, to the Red Bull garage that made him change tires hastily. This opened the way for the Ferraris and Max Verstappen, winner in Jeddah.

Time has put things in the ideal place. Checo Pérez managed to have his best classification in the eleven years that he has raced in Formula 1. pole position he won it thanks to squeezing the car to make the perfect lap on one of the most sinuous circuits in the world. At the start of this Sunday, the Mexican had the task of defending his position against the favorites of the year, the Ferrari.

The Mexican’s Red Bull went about his business: to put his foot on the accelerator and block Charles Leclerc’s path. His partner, Max Verstappen, managed to overtake Carlos Sainz to get third and work as a team. The Ferraris, faced with lost ground, had to wait for a tire change or for an incident to occur on the track to find a safety car.

On lap 14, the Mexican began to alert his engineer that he was beginning to lose grip on the tires. He went out in 16, for a premature tire change. As soon as he was leaving again, Nicholas Latifi’s car went into the wall and caused the safety car. Bad move against Red Bull who lost the lead and allowed the Ferraris to gain the ground. If the Austrian team waited a little longer, the comeback of Leclerc and Sainz could. The native of Jalisco fell to fourth place and when he was about to go out on the track during the safety car, where everyone must respect the difference with their rivals, Pérez illegally overtook Sainz. So they asked the Mexican to return the position. The tip was left by the Monegasque, followed by Verstappen. It was a direct blow to Pérez’s aspirations. The new tires affected the Mexican who could not catch up with the Spanish. And he never could.

Three cars were damaged by the power unit: Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo on lap 37. That paralyzed the race for a while, but did not allow the Mexican to have a change of tires from the boxes. Near to lap 44, Checo Pérez achieved the partial fastest lap of the race, although it was not enough to catch up with Sainz who took third place. At the top, Verstappen took the victory from Leclerc at speed with the rear wing, DRS and millimetric maneuvers. The Mexican, despite everything, added his first points in the championship and that somewhat alleviates the Red Bull disaster in Bahrain.

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