Sergio Perez described his Singapore Grand Prix display as the best performance of his Formula 1 career, after controlling the race for his fourth victory.
Perez grabbed the lead from pole sitter Charles Leclerc on the drag to Turn 1 and kept the Monegasque at bay throughout the wet/dry shortened 59-lap race.
It marked the first time in his career that Perez had led every lap of a grand prix and marked his second triumph of the season, having picked up victory in Monaco.
“It was certainly, I think, my best,” said Perez. “My best performance. I controlled the race.
“This win is really special for me, because I’ve had a bit of a rough patch in the last few races. And I mean, obviously, the media in Formula 1 makes it a lot bigger, maybe because I’m just Mexican and if I’m not two races in a row in the podium, then I’m having a worst season ever and Red Bull should drop me and all that sort of stuff that you get to see.
“And yeah, it’s just nice to get that win and yeah, it’s not a reminder to anyone of how good I am. But it’s just always good to be able to put together this sort of performances. And yeah, just keep going, you know, we kept working really hard.”
Perez went on to describe the challenges involved through the course of the grand prix.
“If was important to make sure we had good tyre life,” he said.
“I honestly was expecting the track to dry up earlier than it did. I think if George [Russell] wasn’t out there, there will be a lot more people going earlier.
“I think the keys to the race was to control the pace on the Inter, have good pace when we need it, and the second one was to survive on the slicks in the beginning, because we were with extremely poor conditions.
“I think sometimes people, when they’re looking at you, underestimate how hard it is, and how easy it is for us to make a mistake.
“We basically were going to few places where it was properly damp, properly wet and it was super, super tricky, to make a mistake. I had a lot of moments, so first of all, I’m really happy I finished the race. But secondly, to win this race. It’s super special.”
After the final safety car, when he was under such extreme pressure from Leclerc, it seemed that even if Perez held on on track, it would be taken from him by the penalty, but his courage in the final few laps, to risk everything and open up sufficient margin to cover off the likely five second addition to his race time, that was epic driving, against a car which was fractionally quicker as well. What a wonderful performance he gave. Credit too, to Leclerc, who left his teammate in his soggy dust as he tried everything to collect maximum points to keep his title hopes alive. Fabulous entertainment from two excellent drivers.