By Sergio Silva
28 Jul 2024, 13:17 PM EDT
Problems reappeared for Sergio “Checo” Perez who squandered a good qualifying result by finishing in eighth place in the Belgian Grand Prix, which was largely dominated by the Mercedes team, who managed to finish 1-2 thanks to the British drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
The Mexican driver from the Red Bull team, who had started from second place, could not abandon the path of poor results on the Belgian circuit of Spa-Francorchamps where he ended up getting the extra point for setting the fastest lap.
This eighth place finish adds to the list of poor results achieved by the Guadalajara native, who has now gone eight consecutive races without a podium finish and is awaiting what happens next week at the meeting that will be held within the Austrian team to evaluate his performance.
George Russell won his third race
The British driver from the Mercedes team had a great race this Sunday at the Belgian Grand Prix after a great comeback after starting from sixth place and ending up with his third victory in Formula 1 and the second of this 2024 season.
The victory of Russell, who was followed by his teammate Lewis Hamiltonput the German team in a very good position, putting pressure on Ferrari in the constructors’ classification this season in Formula 1.
Third place in Belgium went to Australian driver Oscar Piastri, who continued his fine campaign and did his part to keep the McLaren team in the fight. His teammate, Lando Norris, finished sixth.
Max Verstappen returns to fifth place
As if Sergio “Checo” Pérez’s bad moment at the Red Bull team were not enough, they are starting to get impatient with the fifth place achieved this Saturday by Max Verstappen, who for the second race in a row achieved the same result.
The three-time F1 world champion, who started from 11th place due to a penalty, managed to fight back but fell short of his bid to get into the fight for the podium, a position he has not achieved since the British Grand Prix, where he finished second. In Hungary last week, he also finished fifth.
With the race in Belgium, the 2024 F1 season is halfway over and the Dutchman remains at the top of the drivers’ standings but far from the dominance he showed during the last campaign, something he will try to regain during the second part of the calendar.
The next round of the 2024 Formula 1 season will be in about a month with the Dutch Grand Prix where the main star of the Red Bull team will be racing on home soil.
Keep reading:
– Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was pleased with Sergio “Checo” Pérez’s seventh place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix
– Sergio “Checo” Pérez denies that his contract with Red Bull has performance clauses that could keep him out of the Austrian team
– Sergio “Checo” Pérez is worried about not being able to figure out his RB20 during free practice ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix