Sergio Perez has gotten himself a dream start with his new F1 team, Red Bull Racing, as the Mexican slotted himself into P2 for Sunday’s race at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. What’s more, Perez has also managed to oust his ever-dominant teammate, Max Verstappen.

Of course, this is a celebratory moment for the team, considering their number 2 headache finally seems to be reaching its end. However, the downside to this qualifying is that Perez apparently had the pace to beat the pole-sitter, Lewis Hamilton.

And a poor exit out of the final turn caused Perez to miss out on a chunk of time, enough to deny himself his first pole position in Formula 1.

What did Sergio Perez say?

Following the qualifying session, Perez applauded his crew for piecing the car back into one piece after the shunt with Esteban Ocon on Friday.

“Well done to the team. Yesterday, I did a mistake, and I made them work hard. But it’s a good recovery. The most important is that we’re showing progress,” he said. “I never expected to be here today, you know. Where we were yesterday, we’ve been improving.

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“But it’s just important to be P2 and I should have been on pole today. I did a mistake on my final corner. We just have to make sure that we keep progressing and tomorrow is what matters.”

Perez will be starting the race on a set of soft tires as opposed to Mercedes‘ and his teammate’s medium tires. Hence, the Mexican’s first stint will be extremely crucial. With Perez being an expert in tire management, Red Bull will be hoping that Perez squeezes as many laps as possible into his initial stint.

Can Perez win the Emilia Romagna GP?

Perez delivered a brilliant lap on the final Q3 run to place himself on the front row for Sunday’s race. But what are the prospects of Perez winning the GP from here?

Well, looking at Red Bull’s pace, in the long run, Perez could very well aim for the race victory. However, it still depends on certain aspects.

The Mexican will need to leap past the seven-time world champion at the start of the race. Since Perez will be running on much softer tires compared to the surrounding ones, he will possess enough pace to build a substantial gap to Hamilton and Verstappen.

And from there on, his race will entirely rely on his incredible tire managing skills and smart strategic decisions from Red Bull.

So, can the team get everything to perfection and gift Perez what could only be his second race win in Formula 1?

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