Sergio Perez: The penalty was justified

In Jeddah, Sergio Perez finished second and is satisfied with the results of the race, but regrets his mistake…

Question: Sergio, great result! Tell us about your breed…
Sergio Perez: It turned out to be more eventful than Max’s. Unfortunately I couldn’t get ahead of Charles at the start, leaving him with a place in the second corner, but on the fourth lap I took the lead.

Then everything went smoothly. I was three seconds behind Max, the degradation of the Medium tires was minor. Unfortunately, the safety car came out very quickly, forcing everyone to make an early pit stop.

When I left after him, I made a mistake. The team warned that another car was behind it, but saw no one in the mirror. Looking back, I think the punishment was justified. Yes, this is my fault, luckily it didn’t change the course of the race.

Q: This weekend you said you liked the car’s behavior in Jeddah better. What is the difference?
Sergio Perez: In what we do with the car. In Bahrain the degradation of the tires was very high, but we understood the reasons.

In Jeddah the race went much better thanks to the progress over the weekend. But in qualifying I took a step back, it’s important to find out why I drove slower than in the second practice, so that it doesn’t happen again next time.

Q: Racers are role models for many young people. What advice would you like to give to those who dream of getting into Formula 1 from Saudi Arabia?
Sergio Perez: I came to Formula 1 from Mexico, which was very difficult. We have good national motorsport, but in Europe the level is much higher.

My advice is to move to Europe at a young age and compete with the best riders in the world who compete in Europe. This is the only way to see a driver from Saudi Arabia in Formula 1.