Sergio Perez was aiming for 6th place in Zandvoort

The Dutch Grand Prix was complicated for Sergio Perez. First eliminated in Q1 after crossing the start/finish line too late, the Mexican eventually started from the pit lane after his team changed elements on his RB16B.

Condemned to an attacking race, Perez immediately attacked the Haas, but was held up for a long time by Nikita Mazepin. While the Russian defended his position with great fierceness, the Mexican was forced to lock his wheels at the first corner, which caused a flat spot on his tires and therefore had to change them prematurely.

Despite this incident, Sergio Perez was not destabilized and made many overtakes on the track to finally enter the points zone. However, the Red Bull driver was involved in a new collision towards the end of the race, still in the first corner, with Lando Norris. While trying to overtake the McLaren on the outside, the two men made contact, which partially damaged the floor of the RB16B.

Even if the two incidents with Norris and Mazepin cost the Mexican valuable seconds, he still considers that he had a good race, but he believes that he could have finished in 6th position.

« We managed to limit the damage, especially on this circuit where it is impossible to overtake without taking a lot of risks. Our race was really complicated by Nikita at the beginning, as I flat-spotted my tires, he changed trajectory very late under braking and to avoid him I flat-spotted my tires. I had to come into the pits and start from scratch. This probably cost us sixth place, he said.

Apart from that, it was a reasonable race, except for the contact with Lando as well, which tore off the right side of the floor and cost a lot, I think it also cost sixth place. I was there, I had nowhere to go. I think it was quite avoidable to touch each other at that moment.

With his 8th place, Sergio Perez was able to consolidate his 5th position in the constructor championship and reduce his gap on Lando Norris.