Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez from Guadalajara made a great comeback at the Montmeló circuit, although he had to settle for fourth place in the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen took another victory.
After a bad qualifying session, Sergio Pérez had a great start that allowed him to get into the points zone from the first moments.
Despite the threat of rain, the man from Guadalajara was taking advantage of the potential of his RB18, leaving Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Niko Hulkenberg behind.
Taking advantage of the pit stops, Checo Pérez began to show great performance on the track and aggressively seized the first places, a place from which he did not come away from throughout the race.
In this dispute he was face to face with the Mercedes drivers, while the Ferraris lost performance as the laps went by.
Pérez, working with his team and still showing that there was not so much wear on his tires, it was decided to change to hard tires and thus be able to avoid a second stop.
Aggressively, he continued to respond to seize fourth place and broke away from his competitors, in a duel for the podium in the final third of the race against Mercedes’ George Russell.
This fight even caused a new stop for Pérez, with soft tires aiming for a good finish, fighting the Mercedes inch by inch.
With consistency, the Mexican went after the Briton, who was losing speed with each turn, which allowed Pérez to close the gap, but he lacked time to achieve another podium finish in the campaign, which left a bittersweet taste for the tapatio.
For his part, the Dutchman Max Verstappen continues to show that he is the best driver in the world today, after winning the Spanish Grand Prix without complications.
After a great qualifying session, the Red Bull driver showed the best performance by overtaking Carlos Sainz in the first half of the race, and afterwards he didn’t let Lewis Hamilton deliver any surprises.
Without breaking a sweat, the Dutchman climbed back to the top of the podium in a dominant display, signing his fifth win this season.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell rounded out the podium in a strong performance for the Silver Arrows.