How Perez profited in Baku to lay down his F1 title fight credentials

By:

Jake Boxall-Legge

May 1, 2023, 8:19 AM

Sergio Perez swooped to secure an Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint and main race double victory, on a weekend where he showed he was more than a match for Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen. But given the Mexican’s prowess on the Baku streets, can he sustain his momentum into a full-blown title challenge?

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It’s not uncommon for drivers to have “their” circuit. Monaco served as such for Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher had the tricky Magny-Cours circuit wrapped around his finger, and Lewis Hamilton enjoys demigod status at Silverstone.

But Baku is Sergio Perez’s track, and it has been ever since it joined the Formula 1 calendar. In that first race in 2016, Perez qualified second, started seventh thanks to a penalty, and worked his way up to third in an unfancied Force India.

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Jake Boxall-Legge

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Jake studied engineering at university, as his original ambition was to design racing cars. He was bad at that, and thus decided to write about them instead with an equally limited skillset. The above article is a demonstration of that. In his spare time, Jake enjoys people, places, and things.