Sergio Perez was quick to lavish praise on the mentality of the nascent Cadillac squad after losing its first-ever Formula 1 championship point after a post-Monaco Grand Prix penalty.
The Mexican once again showed a staggering level of performance across the weekend in the principality, missing out on Q2 on Saturday by just two tenths of a second.
And in the race, a little fortunes from retirements and in-race penalties of cars ahead saw him in the top 10 in the closing stages, and duly took 10th on the road.
But it was known that the veteran would be under investigation for a start line infringement, taking the start in the empty grid slot of Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto, who was forced to start from the pit lane.
The misdemeanour handed Perez a retrospective drive-through penalty, dropping him to 15th, and handing the point to fellow backmarkers Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso grabbing its first score of the season.
“There was a miscommunication that we had. That was just a pure miscommunication with my team,” Perez told media, including Motorsport Week, after the race, referring to the grid slot error.
“We looked at different angles. It’s hard to prove from one angle.
“When you look from one angle, it’s clear. But then from another, it isn’t that clear.
“Regardless of that, we got P10 on track. We had no benefit [achieving] that.
“I actually had a very poor start, but the Lap 1 at the restart was incredible. It made us come back and that was really what matters.”
Sergio Perez reveals Cadillac almost retired car from top 10 Monaco finish
Perez’s driving has been rightly noted for its high level this year, and his Monaco performance was perhaps more impressive, given the scale of troubles the MAC-26 was encountering.
“It was a very difficult race for us,” he explained. “Very, very tough out there with the vibrations, with the brakes, with the engine.
“We thought at some point to retire the car, but we didn’t give up. We stayed out and the race gave us a new opportunity and we took it.
“It was tough. We were struggling a lot. We had to do a lot of LiCo [lift and coast], a lot of management on the engine at the same time.
“It was just a very tricky afternoon out there. We did struggle a lot and we’ll see what we can do in the coming weekends.”
Regardless of the penalty incurred, Cadillac scored a minor David-and-Goliath-style result on the road, and Perez pointed towards the American squad’s mentality.
“I think the team has to be very proud of the race that we achieved,” he conluded.
“We didn’t give up and it’s something great to see from everyone in Cadillac.
“We had one of the worst Monaco races I ever remember. We just had everything [go wrong] and we didn’t give up.
“That’s something great to see from the team.”
For Cadillac, the performance and result on the road must surely inject a boost to its mentality as the European season kicks off.
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