Sergio Perez has refused to lay the blame for his disappointing retirement from the Mexican Grand Prix on Charles Leclerc, insisting he could have pulled out of the move before colliding with the Ferrari driver. Perez got off the line quicker than anybody else and saw an opening to take the lead of his home race going into the first corner.
The pit straight in Mexico is one of the longest in F1 – and also the widest – but Perez found out that the track doesn’t fit three cars going into the first corner. He tried to overtake Leclerc on the outside while his team-mate Max Verstappen got on the inside of the pole sitter.
Perez ended up coming off worst as he turned in on Leclerc too early, launching his car into the air as he touched wheels with his rival. The damage from the collision forced Perez to retire his car as he came back round to the pits and the Mexican was visibly distraught while sat in his car.
Fans in attendance for the Mexican Grand Prix were also disappointed it seems as they made quick exits from the circuit despite only a few laps of the race being completed. Perez “very sad” to have retired from his home race, but ultimately felt the opportunity to take the lead in the first corner was too good of a chance to miss.
“I had a tremendous start,” Perez started. “The gap was there and if I’m fully honest, since I was starting the race, I would have been really disappointed to be on the podium today knowing that I had a chance to go for the lead and I didn’t took it.
“I just went for it. I wasn’t expecting Charles in the middle. He had less room to move to break as late as I did or Max did. I think there was simply no room for three cars. It was a total race incident and – I shouldn’t say this – but in hindsight I should back off and go home.
“Especially at your home Grand Prix and being two times in a row on the podium. I just wanted to give it all and I went totally for it. I’m very sad but on the other hand I’m really proud of myself because I gave it all.
“We had probably the best start of the year so we just went for it.” He added: “The result will come. We are back there and our pace is there.
“I’m more sad about the end result. You see with a lot of drivers that they have bad weekends when they’re not fully comfortable. You look at the weekend from Fernando and it’s not like all of a sudden he’s a bad driver, this is just part of the game and I have no doubts I will be back for Sao Paulo.”
