After a dominant win, with a dose of luck, Mexico’s Sergio Perez seems increasingly like a Formula One title contender.
Red Bull’s status as the leading team is not in doubt, but now Perez and his teammate Max Verstappen are 2-2 on wins, and the Dutchman’s lead is down to six points.
“Well done guys, we dominated this weekend,” Perez told his team over the radio. “We are in the fight, guys.”
Photo: Reuters
Perez took advantage of a fortunately timed safety car to beat Verstappen to the victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday, adding it to the sprint he secured the day before, as Red Bull kept up its winning start to the year.
In what the stewards called a “very dangerous situation” near the end of the race, a group of people, including photographers, had to run out of the way as Esteban Ocon came into pit on his second-to-last lap.
Perez took the lead when he managed to save time pitting during a safety car period after Verstappen had come in a lap earlier.
The two did not fight for position after that, but Perez said they “pushed to the maximum” as he fought to keep the lead.
Perez and Verstappen clipped the track wall at different times.
Verstappen started second behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but swept past him on the long start-finish straight at the end of lap 3, the first lap on which drivers were allowed to use the DRS overtake assist system on the rear wing. It was a copy of the pass Perez made on Leclerc on his way to winning the sprint race on Saturday.
After Verstappen took the lead Sunday, Perez needed only two more laps for his own similar pass on Leclerc to seize second. It was a powerful illustration of Red Bull’s unbeatable race setup after Leclerc had signaled a minor resurgence for Ferrari by taking pole position in the sprint and main race.
Perez benefited when an accident by Nyck de Vries brought out the safety car after the AlphaTauri slid off the track with broken suspension, just after Verstappen had pitted from the lead. The safety car meant Perez and Leclerc lost less time on their stops and came out ahead of Verstappen.
The Dutch driver said he wanted Red Bull to review “if there was anything we could have done different” on the call to pit, as de Vries had already stopped before Verstappen came in.
After that, the two Red Bull drivers pulled away from the pack in a straightforward win.
Red Bull has won all four Grands Prix this season and the sprint in Baku on Saturday.
Leclerc was third to continue his recovery after a poor start to the year and said the Red Bull teammates had been “in another league” for race pace.
Perez is the only driver to win in Baku more than once and has four podium finishes in his past five races there.
“Checo [Perez] and I, we’re having a good time,” Verstappen said. “You need to acknowledge and also appreciate when somebody has done a great job.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
RSS