Nightmare weekend for Perez
Weekend absolutely to forget a Montecarlo For Sergio Perez, who had landed in the Principality with the main objective of hindering the escape of his teammate Max Verstappen in the general standings. Instead, things immediately went badly for the Mexican from the first minutes of qualifying, thanks to an impact against the barriers at Sainte Devote which pushed the number 11 even to the last place on the starting grid.
16th at the finish line
A race therefore compromised in view of an extremely complex GP for overtaking like the one in Monaco, and so it was for the man who climbed to the top step of the podium last year on the most glamorous street circuit of the world championship. Not by chance, Checo only crossed the finish line at 16th placethe result of a test aggravated by the rain and also by several personal errors which favored Verstappen, who can now enjoy an advantage in the general standings of 39 points.
The ‘mea culpa’ of the Mexican
However, in the statements released to the media at the end of the race, the Red Bull driver did not seek any kind of apology: “We paid the price for my mistake in qualifying, and that was very expensive – has explained – I just have to apologize to my entire team because it is unacceptable to make this kind of mistake. I have to go on and learn, I can’t afford another weekend without points in the league. At the start (when he opted for the transition from medium to hard already at the end of the first lap, ed) it was going very well, unfortunately I hit traffic very early and that brought us back to the starting position. Then the rain came and I was one of the last to pit. Finally I hit the wall. I damaged the front wing with Magnussen who had just come out of the chicane, and it went bad. When you find yourself in those positions, you always have to risk a lot.”
Watch out for Alonso
To make Perez’s weekend even more bitter it was not only the disadvantage from Verstappen that becomes wider, but also his own gap on Alonso which becomes smaller: the 2nd place of the Spaniard, in fact, allows the latter to strengthen his third place in the general standings, with the gap from the Red Bull driver which is now only 12 points. All this, among other things, a week away from the Spanish Grand Prix, the birthplace of the Aston Martin standard-bearer.
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