Bad luck seems to be following Sergio Perez around like a shadow. The Mexican had a brilliant outing in Hungary after a slew of poor performances, especially in qualifying. However, the same bad luck followed Perez at Spa-Francorchamps as well. The Red Bull man will start the race from the front row. However, during the Sprint Saturday, Perez suffered yet another heartbreak with damage to the car and retirement from the 11-lap race. The poor result, however, was an inevitable outcome according to an ex-Ferrari boss.
The Mexican engaged in a rant during the Sprint shootout after encountering traffic during his flying lap. This scenario, according to Perez, ruined his sprint qualifying as we went eighth fastest. Perez also complained about not feeling the best in his RB19. However, according to former Ferrari boss Peter Windsor, this was all due to the wet conditions of the track. Windsor, in his latest YouTube video, exposed Perez’s Achilles’ heel.
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“You know, classic Sergio Perez thing. The car not feeling that brilliant in the wet. All the stuff that we know about Sergio in the wet. But he was trying hard in the race and going quite aggressively. But Lewis was all over him really in terms of positioning the car, doing what he could do, and fighting for whatever it was fourth or fifth place,” said Windsor.
Despite an intelligent pitstop and quick thinking, Perez was fighting for points. Although, the eventual outcome was still disappointing. Even though many would blame Lewis Hamilton for the foiled result, Windsor sided with the Brit.
Peter Windsor sides with Lewis Hamilton in the race ending collision with Sergio Perez
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Perez and Hamilton are fierce competitors and the Brit knows a thing or two about racing against the Mexican, especially after the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. The two were at it again during the Belgian GP Sprint race as well. However, the tussle on Spa saw Hamilton pick up a five-second penalty for colliding with Perez which ended his race. However, Windsor sided with Hamilton in this scenario and believes the penalty was harsh from the race officials.
“The two-abreast going through a couple of corners and one moment Lewis was inside and the front end of the Mercedes touches the Red Bull but they keep going,” said Windsor. “They penalized Lewis five seconds for that and I just think they’re racing drivers and it’s wet and we know they’re going to be sliding around and we know there are going to be things like that. I just think it’s over the top.”
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The extra policing from the FIA during the race is taking the fun out of racing but punishing drivers every opportunity they get. This scenario will only give birth to a certain kind of driving which won’t be exciting, to say the least. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.