Sergio Perez believes his shock maiden Formula 1 victory at the Sakhir Grand Prix was firmly on merit after capitalising on Mercedes’ pitstop error.
Perez was caught up in a first-lap collision when he was spun round by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at Turn 4 and dropped to last place.
He quickly mounted a fightback, recovering to as high as third, when the safety car was deployed due to debris at the final corner after Williams driver Jack Aitken clipped the barrier.
Mercedes reacted by pitting both of its drivers, but a tyre mix-up resulted in race leader George Russell being fitted with the wrong tyres, and then resulted in a lengthy delay for team-mate Valtteri Bottas behind.
Perez inherited the race lead for the restart with 19 laps remaining, but Russell began heaping pressure on the Mexican as he reeled him in on fresh tyres.
A late puncture for Russell halted his charge as he was forced to make an unscheduled pitstop, allowing Perez to cruise home for his first win in his 190th grand prix.
“I’m speechless,” Perez said. “I hope I’m not dreaming, because I’ve dreamt for so many years of being in this moment, 10 years it took me – incredible,” said Perez.
“I don’t know what to say. After the first lap, the race was again gone, same as last weekend. But it was about not giving up, recovering, going through it, just making the best we possibly could.
“This season the luck hasn’t been with us this year but we finally got it.
“I think we won today on merit. The Mercedes had some issues, but I think in the end my pace was strong enough to hold George, who did a fantastic race today.”
Perez revealed a lock-up on his front-left tyre during the first safety car period left him suffering from severe vibrations, before his car came alive after a second stop.
“I made a big mistake during the safety car, I locked up my front left tyre badly,” Perez explained.
“So during my first stint, I had so much vibration. But as soon as I recovered in the second stint, I told my team this car felt just like a limousine, so easy without the vibrations.
“We had tremendous pace. And then I think we read really well the race throughout the weekend. We came here thinking it was going to be a two-stop, but after my long run on Friday, we knew what we had to do today.”
The victory marks Racing Point’s first-ever win as a constructor, with its last triumph coming under the Jordan banner in Brazil in 2003.
For Perez, his maiden victory comes in his penultimate race for the Silverstone-based outfit, and is currently set to face a year out with no drive secure for 2021.
Asked if the result has strengthened his position for next year, Perez said: “It just gives me a more peace with myself, to be honest. What happens is not so much in my hands at the moment. But I know I want to keep going.
“So if I’m not in the grid next year, I will be back in 2022.”
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