Sergio Perez makes podium VOW after Driver of the Day performance in Hungary

Pérez tijdens rijdersparade in Miami — Photo: © LAT Images

Hungarian Grand Prix

Perez makes podium VOW after Driver of the Day performance in Hungary

Red Bull driver turned things around after several difficult weeks of racing

Lauren Sneath

Sunday 23 July 2023 18:04 Updated: 20:01

Sergio Perez has said he plans to be ‘on the podium every single weekend’ as he claimed P3 at the Hungarian Grand Prix after a determined race.

The race proved a redeeming ride for the Mexican driver, who has had a series of difficult races and endured plenty of speculation about his position in the dominant team.

Most ominous have been rumours about the lofty ambitions of Daniel Ricciardo, the Red Bull reserve driver who is now driving for AlphaTauri.

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But Perez persevered to build back up to P3 in the race, after starting in P9, to prove his worth at Red Bull.

Speaking to Sky Sports immediately after the race, Perez said although at one point he was ‘close’ to P2, it was ‘too late’ to make it.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris proved too quick for Sergio Perez in Hungary

He explained: “We got close to P2. Unfortunately, we got through a lot of backmarkers.

“The track was unbelievably dirty off-line, so in the last laps I had some pickup going through the backmarkers and then that meant that I lost a few seconds. Then I recovered towards the end but it was just too late. Anyway, I think overall it was a great strategy by the team and we managed to have an excellent result.”

Perez: it was close with Piastri

The Mexican driver fought through a large portion of the field to make it to P3, fending off attacks from a speedy Oscar Piastri and almost catching Lando Norris in P2.

Perez said: “From now on I look forwards to basically being on the podium every single weekend, so let's keep it up. Yeah it was [close with Piastri] because we were on very similar age tyres.

“Basically we pitted at the same lap, so we were on fresh tyres [and] I went for it around the outside. We touched into turn one and then into turn two we touched again. It was a little bit close, but hard racing.”