“It was the best race of my life”. Sergio Perez is tried, there is a lack of energy to be able to fully express his joy, but the smile he shows in the pauses he allows himself before answering the usual questions in the press conference, is very indicative.
Victory number ‘4’ of his career came at a crucial moment, and it is pure oxygen in the season of Checo, who arrived in Singapore with a not exactly exciting score. In the six races preceding the one in Marina Bay, he had reached the podium on only one occasion (second in Spa), witnessing an exhilarating streak from his teammate.
Sergio Perez is celebrated on the podium in Singapore after the controversial victory
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
The summer was as hard as it was exciting, which came in an authoritative way on a Sunday when Red Bull pinned its hopes of victory on him. Perez was impeccable: perfect start (the highlight) and 59 laps all in command. “The pace with the intermediates was good – commented Checo – but I had to manage many difficult moments and above all a track made very treacherous by some dry and some wet sections. The grip changed a lot and the risk of making a mistake was very high from start to finish ”.
The scope of Perez’s enterprise is given above all by having had Leclerc’s silhouette in the mirrors for a long part of the race, and even when with ten laps to go he managed to remove Leclerc from the DRS area he could not relax.
Sergio Perez standing on the Red Bull RB18 after the victory at Marina Bay
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
The team informed him of the need to build a five-second margin over the Ferrari behind him, a request that forced Checo to roll up his sleeves and complete a final rush at full speed.
“Those final laps were special – he commented – I found a good pace and I managed to build the gap that the team asked me for. It is a very special victory, we really needed it ”.
When you have to live alongside a champion like Max Verstappen, these are the days that set the season. The opportunity to start from the front row (with Max eighth) does not happen often, and Perez had the merit of having seized it perfectly, transforming it into an impeccable Sunday.
In order not to miss anything on a trying day, Perez had to wait another three hours after the checkered flag to be sure of being able to archive a success that brought him just two points behind Leclerc in the general classification.
If Checo manages to finish the season in second position, he will in fact have won his championship, reaching the maximum goal that Red Bull asks of him. Doing more, however, is in fact impossible.
The pats on the back from Christian Horner and Helmut Marko were more important than the trophy received on the podium. “I am aware that when things do not go well we are in question – admitted Perez – also for this reason I think today’s victory is very, very important”.
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