Sergio Perez reveals suffering with Covid-19 was 'hardest moment' of F1 career

Sergio Perez

Perez reveals suffering with Covid-19 was 'hardest moment' of F1 career

Perez missed two races last season after contracting the virus

Will Gray

Sunday 4 April 2021 17:53

Sergio Perez has revealed that missing two races at Silverstone after contracting Covid-19 last year was “the hardest moment” of his Formula 1 career.

Perez, who competed for Racing Point in 2020, tested positive just three days before the British Grand Prix and was immediately withdrawn from the race, subsequently missing the 70th Anniversary GP at the same venue a week later.

The 31-year-old was the first driver to test positive for Covid-19, less than a month after the delayed season had commenced in Austria in July.

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Asked recently as to the hardest moment in his career, he quickly revealed: “Missing two races last year with Covid is the one that is still fresh in my mind.

“I knew that that race [the British GP] in particular was going to be extremely good for us, so that’s hard, to prepare yourself to enjoy it and then to not be able to race.”

Perez, who was replaced by Nico Hülkenberg for the two events, suffered no ill effects from contracting the virus and returned for the Spanish Grand Prix where he finished fifth.

The Mexican driver, who went on to win the penultimate race of last season and the first of his career, then moved to Red Bull over the winter to join Max Verstappen.

The Dutch driver struggled to respond to the same question, stumbling over an answer before explaining: “I always see it like this - racing is one part, if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.

“You get taken out, but then is that really a hard moment in life? It’s part of racing unfortunately. It’s not really a hard moment. I think there are way harder moments in life than what happens in racing.”