In the first two races of the ongoing season, Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez emerged the second best driver on the grid.
In all frankness, it’s nothing new. It’s a position where Perez has often hung around and dealt with before.
However, it must not be undermined that he was next best only to the driver who has clearly emerged as the best in the grid and a classy act unlike any other: Max Verstappen.
At the season opener at Bahrain’s Sakhir, Sergio Perez emerged a little over 22 seconds behind the familiar but first man to cross the checkered flag. While at Jeddah, home to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Perez cut his gap to the front runner somewhat.
And yet, he’d still emerge around thirteen seconds shy of the race winning Max Verstappen.
There are two ways of assessing the talented and extremely capable Mexican’s recent race results.
First, he’s playing the support act to unarguably, the best there is on an F1 track nowadays. To many, it would seem that he’s being little more than some second fiddle.
But the other way, perhaps one that the rational but optimistic follower of Formula 1 might agree to, would read differently.
It would seem that Sergio Perez is catching up Max Verstappen and proving that the inner fight hasn’t bereft him.
It’s a long season this one. The longest, as a matter of fact, that the sport has ever witnessed in its seven decades plus history.
That leaves the man from Guadalajara with a lot many chances to prove a point and where this year stands, a very strong one at that.
Being on top of the podium and being the widely celebrated victor in any Formula 1 Grand Prix anywhere on the face of the earth is a feeling that can’t be possibly overstated or sufficiently described.
And it’s the exact feeling that, one notes, Perez would be hoping for, simply aching to experience right now.
His most recent or latest Formula 1 victory, lest it has already been forgotten, came at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The man often described as the guy in the “other Red Bull” managed to beat Verstappen by a little over two seconds back then.
But in here lies the catch.
If you were to reflect on the Baku victory, it would be evidently clear that the win came nearly a year back in time. 30 April, 2023, to be precise!
Since then, there have only been two other drivers to have won a Formula 1 Grand Prix. One is Carlos Sainz jr. And the other, the more prominent, hugely recurring one, happens to be Perez’s own teammate, Max Verstappen.
What apparently followed in the post-2023 Baku win have been episodes where Perez came under immense scrutiny. This was either down to his unimpressive qualifying results and when not, then pegged to a sheer lack of race pace and resultantly, the inability to match Verstappen head to toe.
While driving about the exact same car albeit with different set-ups than to his teammate’s, somehow Perez just couldn’t bring out the aces one expected him to pull out of his sleeve.
And yet, a contract extension that led to a drive this year only soothed some tense nerves.
When not chided for not being able to draw level to Verstappen’s staggering form, Sergio Perez courted dubious and rather unnecessary diatribe from Red Bull’s own fatherly figure: Helmut Marko.
The criticism, though well earned, spiralled into a different trajectory altogether with the elderly Austrian infamously suggesting that Checo’s failure in comparison to Max was perhaps down to him being a Mexican or as one would say, down to the genetic make up of the driver.
What didn’t help one bit was to see just no support from Christian Horner, someone who’s backed Perez from time and time and seems to have placed a lot of hope on his talent.
Against that narrative, Sergio Perez, who’s bound to have felt miserable and alone even, seems to have not given up.
Somewhere it’s heartening to see the vastly talented driver who contests with a wealth of racing experience to have not given up.
He must, therefore, strive to derive confidence and inspiration from the recent run of events that should further motivate him to come good.
Moreover, one feels there’s a huge factor that could go in favour of the Red Bull driver.
Let us not forget that he is due to compete at the very venue where he last emerged on the podium in 2022.
And yet, something about Perez competing at Australia invites a slew of reactions as also pertinent observation.
It might not be unfair to say that Sergio Perez has some unfinished business at the very venue.
Not only has he not won here as yet, this being a street track and hence, something to his natural liking, he has just one podium to his name at the venue.
Is a win at the Australian GP on the cards? Can Perez keep his cool to deny Verstappen a hat-trick of wins as a brand new contest nears?
Just imagine the dent in confidence that Perez would make to Verstappen’s mind if he can indeed score a victory? And not to forget, humble his detractors in the process!
However, Formula 1 neither functions on past form nor on the wings of imagination. In all likelihood, Perez, who’ll try to salvage a strong fight at Melbourne, will have more than Verstappen vying for the win.
Let us not forget that in the recent past, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has experienced the sweet taste of victory (2022 race) here in Australia.
Perez would duly remember having scored a second in that contest. He must now strive for sheer excellence in what lies ahead.