Why one lost place at the start of the 2024 Chinese GP cost Sergio Perez dearly

Sergio Pérez’s third place in China, behind Lando Norris’s McLaren, has to be counted as a disappointing result for the Mexican, given how dominant his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen was in victory. But as well as acknowledging the extraordinary level Verstappen is operating at, it was also something of a confluence of unfortunate circumstances for Pérez. He was effectively fighting two different strategies in different parts of his race, those of Fernando Alonso and Norris. This had a snowballing effect on his race.

When Alonso out-accelerated Pérez off the line and snatched second place from him at the start of the race, it was a much more serious blow for him in hindsight than it appeared at the time. Alonso’s aggressive opening stint was a gesture of bravado against an overwhelmingly faster car, one which would soon have to be paid for in tyre life. Pérez knew he’d be able to pass it soon enough – and indeed he found his way through on the fifth lap and left the Aston far behind.

But those opening few laps stuck at the Aston Martin’s pace had lost Perez 5.5sec to Verstappen. It hardly seemed disastrous, but it would come to have an impact. Running in the Aston’s turbulence and fighting against it had taken a lot from his tyres, so that by the time Red Bull called them in for their first stops on lap 13, Verstappen had stretched out that lead to almost 10sec.

This brought Pérez out behind the fourth-place Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and as he caught it, they briefly diced on what was Sainz’s in-lap. This cost Pérez a further 2sec. He set about catching Leclerc in front of him but that Ferrari also pitted out of his way, in response to a VSC, as did Norris (enabling both the McLaren and Ferrari to be switched to one-stop strategies). Which briefly put Pérez back up to second behind Verstappen. When the VSC changed to a full safety car, Red Bull was obliged to bring both cars in just 10 laps after their first stops. Which meant that Pérez rejoined just behind Leclerc, only a few tenths separating them as Sergio exited the pits. Had he not suffered the initial Alonso delay, he’d not have then suffered the 2sec Sainz delay and would have now been rejoining ahead of Leclerc, not behind.

Pérez would spent the next six laps fighting with Leclerc as Norris pulled away on his own, able to optimise his combination of pace and tyre usage. By the time Pérez got by the Ferrari, he had not enough life left in his tyres to lap fast enough to catch Norris. That initial Alonso attack had been costly.