04/07/2022
NEWS STORY
Despite a poor start and a subsequent clash with Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez went on to rescue victory - well second - from the jaws of defeat, the Mexican the first to admit that it was a great comeback.
At the original start, Perez lost out to Lewis Hamilton and then Fernando Alonso, but then came the red flag that followed Guanyu Zhou's horrific crash.
Next time around the Mexican's start was much better, indeed he was battling with Charles Leclerc and his own teammate, but in the process picked up front wing damage that meant an early stop for a replacement.
Rejoining the race in last position (17th), it appeared the Monaco winner was in for a long, point-less afternoon.
However, an expert in tyre management, Perez settled down for a long stint (34 laps) on his mediums and had just made it back into his original starting position (4th) when Esteban Ocon ground to a halt and brought out the safety car.
This gave Perez a 'free' pit stop, and after subsequently passing Lewis Hamilton the Mexican was able to hunt down a struggling Charles Leclerc and thereby set in motion the epic three-way battle that thrilled fans around the world.
"It was a great comeback," he grinned at race end. "We didn't give up, we kept pushing.
"When the opportunity came at the end, we just went for it," he added. "It was just epic, the final laps, it was a good fight between us. It was a great fight with Charles, and with Lewis I felt like I had the position, and then he was right there."
Asked about the early clash with Leclerc, he said: I just got squeezed. I had nowhere to go; Charles was on the inside, Max was on the outside.
"My front wing was damaged pretty badly so I had to pit to change it," he added. "I then went to last place and recovered from there."
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