Sergio Perez was excited to return to the podium at the Austrian Grand Prix, "Hopefully we're back" he declared. He had a rough patch in his last three races and hasn't been on the podium since the Miami Grand Prix.
It seemed like an exciting beginning at the start of the season as Perez and Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen was fighting for the championship. Perez trailed Verstappen by just 14 points after the fifth round of the season in Miami. Soon after it was a nightmare for Perez as he failed to reach Q3 for the next four Grand Prix, making it difficult to score points and allowing Verstappen to take a bigger lead.
Despite a difficult qualification session at the Red Bull Ring on Friday, which left Perez to start the race at 15th on the grid, Perez was able to fight his way up to third place during Sunday's race. With this result he ended his rough patch and was happy to be back.
“It was a great recovery from the team, a fantastic strategy and we had great pace,” said a “really happy” Perez, who was battling illness throughout the three days of action.
“It’s been a very difficult weekend for me, especially physically. I’ve been really weak, I was sick on Thursday, [so] it hasn’t been an easy weekend – high fever, no sleep during the weekend.”
Sergio Perez had to really work his way up and fight his Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz for the final spot on the podium, giving Red Bull their first double podium since the race in Miami GP.
“It was very hard but fair,” Perez said of the battle. “It’s always a pleasure to race them. The Ferraris were very strong, especially in the low-speed [corners], they were having very good traction, but it’s a good comeback.”
Max Verstappen has now surpassed Sergio Perez by 81 points in the drivers's standings, but Perez is only feeling the positives to get himself back on track. Thanks to this double podium, Red Bull is leading the constructors standing by 199 points over second place Mercedes.
“It’s been a bit of a rough patch for me, so now hopefully we’re back and can keep that consistency,” he signed off ahead of next weekend’s British Grand Prix.
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