Red-Bull driver Sergio Perez on the Singapore Grand Prix and why he only managed tenth place – team principal Christian Horner demands more performance
“We had a pretty good first lap,” says Sergio Perez. And that’s right: in the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, he improved from 13th on the grid to tenth. But after that, not much happened from his point of view: Perez also finished his Red Bull RB20 in tenth place after 62 laps.
That’s why Perez speaks of a “rather painful evening” in Singapore and complains that he made “nothing” out of the starting position after the first round. Specifically, it was a “complete disaster” to “be stuck behind Nico [Hülkenberg] the whole race,” says Perez.
Perez drove at least half of the race in the Red Bull behind Hülkenberg in the Haas, starting on lap 30. During another half of these laps, Perez had the opportunity to use the DRS overtaking aid, but still couldn’t find a way past Hülkenberg.
His conclusion: “Considering how difficult it was to overtake, we should have started a little further forward.” But that was not possible due to a weak qualifying.
And so, in Singapore, Perez even had to defend himself against Formula 1 newcomer Franco Colapinto in the Williams, who, coming from P12, was ahead of Perez in the first half of the race after a good start. “It was difficult at times to stay with him,” says Perez, who was in DRS range for a total of eleven laps but was unable to make a move.
According to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, the main reason for this was a lack of traction “out of Turn 3 and onto the back straight”. In places where a driver needs good grip, Perez had no grip.
The only remedy was the strategy, says Perez: “We managed to overtake Franco with an undercut. But that only worked for him. It was just a difficult race with no strategic options.”
Perez without a water bottle, and now the pressure is mounting
Negative highlight from his point of view: At almost 30 degrees Celsius air temperature and around 75 percent humidity in Singapore, Perez had no fluids. His cockpit bottle was “broken” and the Grand Prix was therefore “long” for him, as Perez describes it. “We are happy to take the point [for tenth place] with us.”
Starting outside the Top 10, we knew overtaking would be tough. A strong first lap got us into the Top 10, but with no strategy opportunities and a broken drink system, it was a long race. We take the point and move on to Austin!
We started outside the Top 10, we knew that… pic.twitter.com/qqxZTDUrqz
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) September 22, 2024
But one point is not enough for a team like Red Bull, especially in view of the interim standings in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship, where McLaren is pulling further and further ahead as the new leader. That’s why team boss Horner says: “We now need two drivers who are on top of their game.”
Perez did well in Baku and had a “hard weekend” in Singapore. “But we need good performances if you see that McLaren gets two drivers on the podium. These big points really make the difference. That’s why we have to make sure that Checo is as far forward as possible,” explains Horner.
At least, according to Perez, Red Bull knows “what went wrong” in qualifying. “Hopefully we can strike back in Austin. We should be able to show our true pace there, because our car is much better on normal race tracks. And I hope we’ll get a few updates then.”