34-year-old driver’s display in Saudi Arabia ‘didn’t look good on paper’

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Formula 1 pundit James Hinchcliffe has admitted that while Sergio Perez’s performance in Saudi Arabia wasn’t perfect, there were plenty of positives to take.

Being constantly compared to Max Verstappen isn’t easy and last season he was left behind by the Dutchman.

However, writing on the Formula 1 website, Hinchcliffe suggested that the underlying numbers were very positive for the Mexican last Saturday.

Hinchcliffe praises Perez after Saudi Arabia Grand Prix

Sergio Perez went into the 2024 season under serious pressure despite finishing 2^nd in the Drivers’ Championship last year.

Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton was slowly catching him until the final few races of the season despite the vast difference in pace between their two cars.

Christian Horner warned the Mexican that he needed to improve as he entered the final year of his contract.

With Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda both gunning for his seat, it meant Perez knew he had to start this season’s campaign strongly.

Perez has recorded back-to-back second places finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia leaving Hinchcliffe very impressed.

There will still be concerns about the difference in pace between Perez and Verstappen, especially during qualifying.

However, he’s doing the job required of him by Red Bull and keeping the Ferraris at bay.

Perez is the best of the rest behind Verstappen

Talking about the 34-year-old, Hinchcliffe said: “Returning to the site of his impressive victory last year, Perez’s confidence was likely high coming into the weekend.

“While the 22-plus second gap to his teammate at the flag in Bahrain didn’t look good on paper, having to fight through the field due to a poor qualifying effort clouded the true story of his pace compared to the sister Red Bull.

“Again in qualifying the three and a half tenth gap to Max Verstappen was higher than ideal, but his race day performance was much closer.

“By the time he had cleared Lando Norris for P2, on Lap 18, Verstappen was five seconds up the road. Over the ensuing two-thirds of the race, he lost only a further two and a half seconds to the three-time champ.

“Not exactly threatening for the win, but doing a respectable job against one of the greatest to ever hold a steering wheel.

“It will be interesting to see if Jeddah is an outlier track for Perez, or if he can maintain at least this level of relative performance consistently throughout the year.”

Perez will hope he left the Red Bull team as impressed as Hinchcliffe after his performance in Saudi Arabia.

The Mexican is potentially a better starter than his teammate, but he can’t normally make the most of it as he’s struggling to start on the front row of the grid.

If he can line up alongside his teammate at some point in 2024, then he might finally have a chance to lead a race this season.