Perez predicts "f-close" British GP battle with Mercedes

Sergio Perez anticipates Mercedes will close the gap to Red Bull at the British Grand Prix this weekend, resulting in what he has described as an "f-close" fight.

As a Racing Point driver last year, Perez missed the back-to-back Silverstone races - the British and 70th Anniversary events - after testing positive for Covid-19.

Asked how much he was looking forward to returning to the British circuit with Red Bull on this occasion, he said: “A lot!

"It’s a while since I was here so I am looking forward to it. I can remember that a year ago I missed this race due to the f*****g Covid. I just hope that we can have a good race.

“I don’t have great memories of this place due to it. It’s so unfortunate that we are all exposed to it but hopefully, we can have a good race here.”

After being urged to be mindful of his language before assessing Mercedes' expected fightback after five races of Red Bull dominance, Perez added: "I think it is going to be...you don’t let me say bad words but it’s going to be f-close.”

Perez regrets Austrian GP incidents

In the second of two recent races at the Red Bull Ring, Perez was involved in three incidents in which he was once the victim and twice the offender with McLaren's Lando Norris and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

With the benefit of hindsight, the Mexican reflected on his performance with regret.

"I saw the gap [left by Lando Norris] and I went for it and it didn’t work out the way I had hoped it would," he explained. "But I had to go for it. He would have messed up my race.

“In hindsight, if I had waited more I could have got him later and so the result would have been a lot better but it is always easier to know after the race.

“With Charles, it was a bit too close. I think I regret the first incident with him into turn four because I think we were just too hot with everything - brakes, tyres.

"I should have avoided touching with him on that first one so I would say that was probably fair to get the penalty.

“But then the second one, there was not much I could do because I was pushing and I lost the car in the middle of the corner and eventually the run-off finishes. So it was a very bad race from my side.

“I have reset from it, taken the positives which was the pace in qualifying and also the pace in the race in free air and so on, so I just hope that this weekend we can have a much better one.”

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