Sergio Perez: I was lucky to only lose one position after Albon contact

Sergio Perez confessed he was lucky to lose only one position after late contact with Alex Albon left his front wing hanging by a thread.

Having struggled in the heavy rain in Saturday qualifying, Perez climbed from seventeenth on the grid to finish P6.

The Mexican used the full pace of the RP20 to get onto the tail of Red Bull driver Albon, but, in a move not dissimilar to that of Hamilton on Albon seven days previous, Perez made contact with the Red Bull, and damaged his own front wing.

Speaking to Sky Sports about the incident, Perez said: “I think it was a great recovery. Great pace from the car, the team had a fantastic strategy.

“We were nearly P4 in the end. I was pushing really hard on Albon and I didn’t have any opportunity other than the one that I took. I understeered a bit towards the exit. I opened up the steering wheel while picking up the power and then I broke the whole front wing.

“I was very lucky just to lose one position from that. I had to give it a go, especially because we were pushing flat out with all that we had, and that was the only opportunity I was going to have. I was quite strong in that medium speed, but unfortunately, that didn’t work.”

Racing Point team-mate Lance Stroll almost benefited from the misfortune of Perez, crossing the line less than a tenth of a second behind the Mexican.

He commented: “I arrived in the worst possible moment behind Sergio, because it was right in the middle of turn ten, so I was really just stuck behind him, and then when we got on the power I think I finished just a front-wing behind him."

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