Claims Of F1 Prime Victory, Sergio Perez Hopes Not To Be Dreaming

JAKARTA - Mexican racer Sergio Perez won the first victory of his career in Formula 1 with the Racing Point team after capitalizing on Mercedes' strategy error at the Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain on Sunday.

Mercedes appeared to be in control of the season's penultimate race using the outer layout of the Bahrain International Circuit when George Russell took over the race lead from teammate Valtteri Bottas after the first corner of the opening lap.

The Silver Arrow team decided to pull both riders for a pitstop in turns on the same lap when the Safety Car came out because Jack Aitken lost control of his Williams car and hit the barrier.

But the double-stack strategy actually messed up the race for the two Mercedes riders.

Russell appeared dominant in his first appearance with Mercedes, replacing Lewis Hamilton who was hit by COVID-19. But he was forced to undergo the third pistop because the Mercedes team crew mistakenly installed the tire that was supposed to be embedded in Bottas' car.

The mistake sent Russell back down to fifth, but with the new tires he was able to climb to number two before a leak in his left rear tire forced him to enter the pitstop again.

That Mercedes bad luck opened the door for Perez to claim the first win of his career as well for the Racing Point team.

Perez, who has yet to get a seat for racing next year after being sacked by Racing Point who preferred to sign Sebastian Vettel, found himself in last position on the opening lap after being involved with Charles Leclerc but was able to find a way through his rivals.

"I am speechless. I hope I am not dreaming," said Perez as quoted by Antara on the official Formula 1 website.

"After the first lap of the race (it seemed) over, but we had incredible pace and we knew what we had to do today.

"What happens (next year) is not in my hands at the moment but I want to keep going," said Perez.

Meanwhile, Renault rider Esteban Ocon grabbed his maiden podium as runner-up ahead of Lance Stroll, who brought his second Racing Point to the podium of the day to spark the team's race for third place in constructors.

Carlos Sainz became a McLaren racer who finished leading in P4. His team-mate, Lando Norris, had to start from the rear because he used engine components that exceeded the allocation per season.

Norris was able to earn the last point available after finishing P10 behind the duo of Mercedes Valtteri Bottas and George Russell who finished P8 and P9 respectively.

"It was a refreshing podium and Checo had an incredible pace. For us it was a colossal mess," said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

Daniel Ricciardo brought the second Renault car to finish P5 ahead of Alexander Albon from the Red Bull team and Daniil Kvyat from the AlphaTauri team.

Leclerc, who started the race from P4, finished the race on the opening lap after the incident with Perez, as did Max Verstappen who was involved in the collision until he found his Red Bull car parked on the edge of the track next to the Ferrari Leclerc.