"A bit more aggressive than expected"- Sergio Perez on battle against Carlos Sainz at 2022 F1 Dutch GP

The 2022 F1 Dutch GP wasn't the best race for Sergio Perez. He started P4 but was having trouble climbing up. It was quite laborious for him to attack and get past Hamilton in the beginning. Checo was hoping to close the gap to his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen this weekend, but his efforts went in vain and he is now 109 points behind the world champion.

Sergio Perez had a battle going on with Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari, which turned out to be a lot more aggressive than what he expected. Sainz started third and Perez wasn't able to get past him until the first pit stop when the Spaniard's nightmare was realized as his left rear tire was not ready.

The delay saw Sergio Perez overtake him coming out of the lane.

Carlos Sainz wasn't able to get close to the Mexican until the virtual safety car was deployed after Valterri Bottas' retirement from the race. While the Spaniard and a few others took advantage of the situation and switched to soft tires, Checo chose to continue on mediums.

The restart didn't go as planned and Sainz quickly overtook Sergio Perez around the outside of Turn 1. Checo then fell to sixth, from where he tried to overtake the Ferrari a few times, but to no avail. The battle for fifth got intense in a couple of instances, but Sainz defended quite well against the charging Red Bull. Sergio Perez had no luck and remained behind the Ferrari until the end, finishing P6.

But he ultimately got that fifth place when Sainz was penalized for an unsafe pit release, which dropped him from P5 to P8.

Post the race, Perez explained:

“In the end, [Sainz] was a bit more aggressive than expected and fortunately I didn’t have any damage to the car.”

“I knew he had the penalty and I wanted to go for [Lewis] Hamilton, who was having problems with his tyres at that moment.”

He also clarified why he chose mediums over softs despite the additional grip provided by soft tyres:

“I think in the end I felt better on the mediums, but not for the restart behind the Safety Car.”

“The medium tyre, we saw it with Hamilton, with the different drivers putting it on, it was difficult to warm up with the Safety Car, and that hurt me to hold the position with Carlos.”

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Speculations about Mick Schumacher replacing Sergio Perez

New speculations have risen about Sergio Perez's seat being in danger. Mick Schumacher's mother was spotted talking to Red Bull's Helmut Marko.

Photographs have been circulating everywhere. Fans on Twitter have almost certainly concluded that Mick Schumacher will be seen at Red Bull next with his future filled with uncertainty right now.

The German is currently 15th in the drivers' standings, one point ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and six points behind Pierre Gasly.