Sergio Perez has revealed the significant damage inflicted on his Red Bull which led to his disappointing Austrian Grand Prix.
The Mexican was left with damage to his side pod after contact with the McLaren of Oscar Piastri on the opening lap after they diced for position with Charles Leclerc at Turn 4, which affected his straight-line speed throughout the race.
Perez eventually finished seventh behind the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, 54 seconds away from winner George Russell and 17 seconds behind teammate Max Verstappen who incurred damage after contact with Lando Norris fighting for the lead.
The Mexican shared an image of the damage after the race on his Instagram story, showing the extent of the hole that was punctured in the side of his RB20.
Sergio Perez rues ‘very disappointing’ Austrian GP
Things went from bad to worse for Perez when he incurred a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane midway through the race, hurting his progress as he tried to earn more points in the top ten.
The Mexican said he was left ‘disappointed’ by his race when speaking afterwards and explained how the scale of the damage affected his overall race pace.
“It is very disappointing to be in this position today. The race started really well and we had a solid start, but then I picked up some damage on Lap 1 and the car struggled and was sliding so it was very difficult to fight towards the front,” said Perez.
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“With the damage, I was off balance and made a mistake going into the pitlane and got a 5-second time penalty which hindered us towards the end of the race.
“There are a few things that we need to look back at and carefully analyse everything, the race pace was a question mark today as I felt like we did some really good improvements after yesterday. Overall we lacked performance, it was a very difficult race and one that I struggled a lot in.”
Nico Hulkenberg let Sergio Perez pass in unseen last-lap move
Perez was battling with Hulkenberg for sixth on the final lap when the Haas driver deliberately let him pass knowing he could repass him.
As they began the final lap Hulkenberg made a mistake at the final corner that enabled Perez to get close and overtake on the run up to Turn 3.
The Haas had crossed the DRS detection zone after Perez, enabling Hulkenberg to use the overtaking aid and slipstream to re-pass him on the last lap at Turn 4.
Hulkenberg held onto the position by half a second from Perez at the line, adding to the misery of the Mexican’s difficult race day at Red Bull’s home circuit. It is also the fifth race in a row that Perez has failed to finish inside the top ten.
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