Sergio Perez has conceded to paying a heavy price as he ‘risked it all’ in going for a home victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix.
From fifth on the grid, Red Bull driver Perez made a blistering start on the longest run down to a first corner on the F1 calendar, passing Daniel Ricciardo in his AlphaTauri and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
To his right, team-mate Max Verstappen had scythed his way through the all-Ferrari front row, leaving Perez to tackle Charles Leclerc on the inside.
As Perez attempted to turn in, the home hero collided heavily with Leclerc, resulting in his RB19 being launched into the air, and landing hard on the Turn 1 run-off.
Although Perez managed to return to the pits, the damage was too great to his car to continue, notably – and unsurprisingly – to the rear suspension.
Asked by Speedcafe whether this was the saddest day of his motorsport career, he replied: “It’s certainly pretty high up there.
“I’ve had some really sad moments in my career, but certainly this is, as a race, the saddest one, because of the end result.
“But at the end of the day, this is just racing. I go home very sad, but I also go very proud of my team, of myself.
“We gave it all. I knew that today a podium was not enough for me. I really wanted to go further, and when I saw the gap, I went for it.”
Suggested to Perez that he could have given Leclerc more space, he added: “Definitely, yes, but I was not expecting Charles to brake that late. I was already ahead of him, he was in the middle, so there was a lot less room for manoeuvre.
“Once you are committed to the braking zone at those speeds, it’s just too late, but he was obviously there, and with these wide cars, three cars into Turn 1 is not going to end up well.
“But you decide to take a risk, I decided to take it and I paid the price.”
As the incident unfolded, the pre-race buoyancy of a record crowd rapidly subsided, turning to despair once the realisation had dawned that Perez was out of the race.
As to whether he had let down his fans, he replied: “To be honest, I feel I would have let them down more if I didn’t go for it.
“I saw the gap, I went for it. I decided to take a risk, I knew it was going to be very risky, and I ended up paying the price.
“It was a pretty high risk to take, but it was worth taking it.”
As to whether he would do it again, after a long pause, he said: “Yes, I would.”
Perez now has to pick himself up both mentally and emotionally in a short period of time with the final race of this exhausting end-of-season triple-header next weekend in São Paulo.
Perez, though, is grateful he will again be back in action swiftly.
“Not difficult at all (to bounce back),” he said.
“It’s a weekend where I risked it all to go for the win, the pace was there, but it just didn’t happen.
“This is just how racing is. I’ve been here long enough to understand that you have days like this.
“But what makes me feel proud is that I gave it my all.”
“It will be nice to have another go at São Paulo.”
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