Sergio Perez admits he “wasn’t expecting” the overtake that saw Charles Leclerc pip the Red Bull driver to second place on the final lap of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Having been caught out in qualifying and slumped to a Q2 exit, Perez eventually recovered to claim third and his first podium result since the Italian GP in September.
However, Perez’s comeback bid took a substantial blow at the start when he had to pit to change his front wing after suffering damage against Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo.
“It started really difficult with a lot of damage,” Perez rued.
“Initially we broke the front wing, so we basically went all the way to the back of the grid. And then progressively we were [overtaking] one-by-one and things were going well, we had really strong pace on that first stint, so we put back ourselves in contention.
“Then with the Safety Car, that brought us into the race [for the win].”
By stopping early, Perez catapulted into the race lead once the front-runners had pitted and managed to retain second when he made his second stop under the Safety Car.
While the Mexican overtook Charles Leclerc not long after the restart, Perez was unable to pull away from the Ferrari and both were swiftly overhauled by Max Verstappen.
“I overtook Charles, but I couldn’t pull away from him,” Perez said.
“I was just carrying a little bit too much wing in my car, so my straight-line speed was a little bit down and I just couldn’t pull away from him. Then Max came, he passed us both.”
Although Perez regained the place from Leclerc when the latter locked up and ran wide at Turn 12 with eight laps remaining, he failed to break the Monegasque’s resolve.
That then enabled Leclerc to utilise the aid of DRS and slipstream down the 1.9km Strip stretch on the final to dive down the inside of Perez into Turn 14 to seize second place.
“With Charles, he went straight,” he explained. “It was quite difficult out there with the gusts of wind that we had a few times. I ended up locking up a few times, but luckily we kept it on track.
“At the end with Charles, I wasn’t expecting him, he was 0.7 [seconds behind], but in the braking zone [for Turn 14], he was there. So well done to him and to Max.”
When asked if he felt the inaugural race at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit had delivered, Perez answered: “I think it did. Because it was good for racing, it was not easy to basically pull away from the people behind.
“And it’s a little bit like Baku, being the lead car makes life a little bit harder for you out there. So I think it did deliver.”
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