What hurt Perez most in his ill-fated fight for second in Abu Dhabi

On the day, just 1.3 seconds determined Charles Leclerc would classify as the 2022 Formula 1 runner-up. His three extra points for second over podium finisher Sergio Perez in Abu Dhabi last weekend ensured the Ferrari driver would split the Red Bulls.

Naturally, with sprint contests included, there were 24 previous races for one of Leclerc or Perez to put their stamp on the battle to bring up the rear to runaway champion Max Verstappen. Had the Scuderia not suffered its strategy and reliability shockers or if the fuel system aboard both RB18s didn’t pack up in Bahrain, it might not have gone down the wire. But since those sliding door moments do exist, it teed up a Yas Marina showdown.

Leclerc came up trumps by changing his driving style to nurse his hard tyres beautifully to the flag to pull off a one-stop. Perez couldn’t overpower him despite adhering to the optimum medium-hard-hard strategy. He had hit trouble along the way: losing time battling Lewis Hamilton, stumbling over Pierre Gasly, not having team orders pay him back as the Red Bull camp indicated would happen. Also, Perez let too much performance go to waste.

If Verstappen had moved over on the final lap at Interlagos to restore Perez to sixth, he would have plausibly ended the season two points better off. Therefore, still falling one short of Leclerc’s eventual haul of 308. So, if it had to all come down to 58 laps in Abu Dhabi, which of those race-altering episodes cost Perez most dearly to create the 1.3s (plus a window to overtake the F1-75) shortfall?

The fact is, Perez wanted for pace against Verstappen on Saturday. As such, it was a touch unrealistic for him to have nabbed pole to gain the grid advantage and possible preferential pitstop treatment. That meant the sole goal on Sunday was to keep the Ferrari behind.

Red Bull race strategy might therefore come under fire first. While Perez was, according to other drivers, on the ideal strategy by ending his evening with two stints on the hard tyres, Leclerc could offset the immensely powerful undercut by running long.

As it transpired, the team was likely duped into the extra pitstop. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto revealed that on lap 33 a “dummy” radio message had been used to indicate Leclerc might pit. He stayed put. But Red Bull reacted by calling in Perez. From then on, the rivals were on divergent plans.

PLUS: The Abu Dhabi momentum that can propel Leclerc and Ferrari to F1 2023 success

After Ferrari's "dummy" stop, Perez 'responded' to go on a two-stopper - Leclerc stuck with one

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Had Perez not made an additional 22s visit to the pits, he would have retained track position over Leclerc. While that would have left him prey on six-lap older rubber thereafter, there is the possibility that Perez could have defended for all his worth to hold on to a crucial second place in the race and championship results.

Adding to the pain of that second and final stop if, as indicated, it was unplanned is that Perez didn’t fully exploit his rubber in the lead up. Perhaps if he’d known he was stopping again rather than Red Bull making a late call, he’d have pumped in quicker laps knowing he’d soon be shot of his first set of hard tyres. To that end, he said: “We just didn't push as much as we should have pushed on that second stint, and probably left 2s on the table there.”

Some leeway might be given to Red Bull for, in this case, losing out to Ferrari or for any time a one-stop strategy pays off handsomely. Since practice sessions are only an hour long, by the time an installation and out-lap are completed, the window is too small to run a full race stint simulation of the more durable tyre. This leaves it to software predictions to gauge how the compound will likely behave. Ferrari might have got it sums wrong or Red Bull have seen more cause for optimism on another day. Since both Perez and Leclerc had the same tyres available for the grand prix (two sets of new hards and a one lot of new mediums), this was eminently feasible.

Red Bull was likely duped into the extra pitstop. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto revealed that on lap 33 a “dummy” radio message had been used to indicate Leclerc might pit. He stayed put

Pitstops aside, the next single incident that helped ensure Leclerc had 1.3s in hand was Perez butchering his pass on Lewis Hamilton. The RB18 was equipped with DRS down the back straight to lunge past the Mercedes into the Turn 6-7 chicane. But into the first left-hander, Perez locked the front-left briefly. That put him off line through the transition to allow the seven-time champion to slipstream back ahead for third place into the fiddly final sector. As such, on the 45th lap, Perez avoidably gave away nearly eight tenths.

Wheel-to-wheel combat wouldn’t prove any kinder 10 tours later when Perez stumbled over Gasly, who was fired up for his AlphaTauri farewell and dicing fiercely with Alex Albon over 13th place. Only, he was a lap down and slow to adhere to the blue flags that were set to interrupt his scrap for position. All told, Perez had to hit the anchors to follow the AT03 through the chicane unscathed. When he passed with DRS on the next straight, some choice hand gestures from Perez made it plain just what he made of Gasly’s last act as part of the wider Red Bull stable.

Asked by Autosport to explain the delay, Perez said: “I certainly lost a bit - a second or so or probably more. It was clearly blue flags, but he was in a fight and it's pretty hard not to give up the position. I think he was thinking to go for the move, but I just ended up being there and I thought he left it open. I went for it and luckily, I could brake at the last minute otherwise there would have been contact. In normal conditions, that will certainly be a penalty for Pierre…”

The top three of the Abu Dhabi GP ultimately finished in championship order

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Perez is a little generous here, though. Taken from the sequence of times surrounding this snafu on lap 56, he appears to drop 0.25s (climbing from a 1m29.205s to 1m29.446s). Not 'a second or more'. To be kinder to him, his first and final sector on this lap were a tenth apiece up on his 55th and 57th tours. So, had he enjoyed an unencumbered middle part of the lap, he might have been closer to half a second further up the road.

Even if you add the Gasly and Hamilton incidents together and blame them on the other driver entirely, it barely covers the 1.3-second deficit to Leclerc at the flag. So, you’d be hard pressed to say one or both were the deciding factor in Perez falling just short.

There was another driver who might have had a say in the matter. Following the tension that bubbled over in Brazil concerning team orders, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said his duo would work together in Abu Dhabi to cement second for Perez should the appropriate circumstances arise. Verstappen was fully on board with this when speaking in public.

Six laps from home, Red Bull told Perez he effectively could not cash in the favour. “Max is 8s ahead of Leclerc,” was the sit rep from race engineer Hugh Bird before a pause of a few seconds. “Max can’t give Leclerc DRS. It will just make it easier for Leclerc to defend against you.” That stands to reason. Even if Verstappen slowed to block the Ferrari and didn’t get caught napping by the Monegasque into a braking zone to lose his record-extending 15th win of the season, Leclerc would have still been towed along to hurt Perez’s cause even further. Therefore, any complaints that the two-time champion wasn’t repaying his team-mate for crucially delaying Hamilton at this circuit 12 months earlier are easily rebutted.

All told, the decisive step in this last dance for second place in the championship seems to be Perez’s management of his own pace. After launching better than Verstappen to embark on a half-hearted lunge into Turn 1 that the polesitter soon covered off, the pair set a streak of near identical laps, which might suggest they were following a set delta. But as the stint wore on, Perez was paying the price for this early turn of speed. As the gap to Verstappen shot from a steady 2.3s to 5.8s in the space of six laps, it was clear Perez had punished his rubber.

He said he “died towards the end” of the stint. That forced him to pit on lap 15, five laps prior to his team-mate, to create the offset that put him on a collision course with a pivotal and costly two-stop strategy. A lock up soon after pitting didn’t help his cause. And although he was plausibly worried about the dirty air causing temperatures to spike in the United Arab Emirates twilight, the lap 29 claims that Verstappen was holding up Perez despite being 2s adrift don’t make for a solid enough case.

It seems, therefore, that at 10 to midnight on the final day of the 2022 F1 season, Perez himself was the biggest factor in Perez not taking second in the championship. That overzealous first stint cost him both track position and those decisive 1.3 seconds.

Perez's hopes of finishing the year with a Red Bull 1-2 went up in smoke

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images