At Spa, Sergio Perez rode in second place for almost the entire distance of the Grand Prix – first lagging behind Carlos Sainz, then behind his partner and losing to Max Verstappen at the finish in almost 18 seconds. But the 2nd place on the Belgian stage of the championship also allowed him to move up to the second line of the individual classification.
Q: For the sixth time this season you finished second. But the start wasn’t the best – how sure were you that you could recoup it?
Sergio Perez: Yes, the start was very unsuccessful, I lost a lot of positions. Luckily I managed to avoid other problems and at Turn 5 for George Russell. Then there was an incident between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, after which I returned to second position.
But I couldn’t beat Carlos Sainz quickly – I had to take care of the tires. I started with the Medium kit and the relegation level was a little higher than expected. But then the situation returned to normal, and in the end the team achieved an excellent result.
Q: Can you tell us in more detail what happened there at the beginning, and why did you start so slowly?
Sergio Perez: I think something happened to the clutch. As soon as I let go of it, the drive wheels started to slip, and this always greatly deteriorated the dynamics of acceleration. I think Spa is one of the worst places in this regard, because the asphalt on the grid is very abrasive.
Q: What can you say in general about the car’s work this weekend?
Sergio Perez: I think our car was of course the fastest. First of all, Max managed to show a very impressive speed. He was on a different level all weekend, especially in the race. It’s great to have a car like that, but I think the track characteristics contributed to this. I believe that Ferrari and Mercedes will compete with us again in Zandvoort.
Q: You should have seen closely what happened between Fernando and Luce on the first lap at Les Combes. Can you say something about this incident?
Sergio Perez: At that point, I was completely focused on George’s car, but when I got ahead of him, I saw Lewis’s car flying into the sky. Then I tried to avoid Alonso’s car, who was just returning to the track. To be honest, it was hard for me to figure out what happened to them there.
Q: You said that Max performs at a different level, but how do you explain this tempo difference? Is it somehow related to the technical innovations the team has recently introduced? Perhaps the car now fits less with your preferences, does it not quite fit your driving style?
Sergio Perez: Of course the car has become faster than at the start of the season. And I’m really not as comfortable behind the wheel as I used to be. I need to work on finding an approach to it so that I can unlock the full potential of RB18.
Only sometimes things come together more naturally and you can squeeze everything out of the car. And sometimes to achieve this you have to make very serious efforts and analyze everything in detail. It seems that this is now the case.
This weekend Max and I set up the cars a little differently and I hope this will reveal the difference in the RB18’s behavior and help me improve.
Q: Now you are in second place in the individual standings. Think you need to run command installs from now on? Or do you still think there are still chances for the title?
Sergio Perez: There are still eight races to go and anything can happen. We will try every weekend to get the best possible results. That is important, also for the constructors’ championship. Overall, I think we’re in a great position right now, although things can change very quickly.
Source: F1 News
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