It was looking so good for Sergio Perez at the Russian Grand Prix until the last few laps. Perez was executing a smart strategy as he was p5 with 10 laps to go was catching Sainz for P4, but it all went down when the rain arrived.

The Red Bull driver was among the few drivers who stayed out on the slicks. It was looking like a masterstroke, but the drizzle turned into a heavy shower. He had to come to the pits, but he was a lap too late and his progress was undone.

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The Red Bull driver made his own call during the last laps

The decision to pit for the inter tires came a bit too late for the Mexican, but it was all down to him. His race engineer informed Checo of the conditions, but he risked it and ended up finishing P9.

Just when the rain was falling on the circuit, his race engineer came on the radio asking him if he wanted to pit.

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” Alonso behind, you happy on the tires, do you need inters?” asked Perez’s race engineer. Checo replied,” Are we expecting more rain?” 

” Something is about there could be more. Your call Checo. Do you want inters?” Checo replied by saying no and stayed out. But he had to come on the next lap as the rain got heavier.

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I think we went into the pits one lap too late: Sergio Perez

The Mexican driver had struggled while pitting as he slipped and hit the pit wall, but it did not cause him too much damage. He mentioned he opted to not take too many risks and stayed out to gain more positions.

“I think we went into the pits one lap too late. At that time, it was raining in the middle sector, but the rest of the track was pretty dry. So you could keep the temperature up and we didn’t know if there would be more rain.” said Perez.

That made it very difficult. We were already on the podium and I think we played it safe, but it didn’t work out. We also had a slow stop. I think the race was pretty good, but unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get the final result we wanted.” said Checo.

The result may not be what the Mexican driver needed as he has been struggling off late. Perez would have hoped to get more from the weekend after he made a promising start and to the challenge to Mercedes.

Should Perez have come in sooner? Let us know.