Sergio Perez revealed he nearly had to retire his Red Bull car before he could win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Perez claimed a dramatic victory in a race which involved a late red flag after his Red Bull teammate crashed out with four laps remaining.
That effectively meant the race would be a two-lap sprint to the finish from a standing start on the grid. Lewis Hamilton beat Perez off the line but went straight on at Turn 1 with overheated brakes.
Perez made it to the finish in front, claiming the second victory of his career and first for Red Bull.
He immediately brought the car to a stop just after the pit exit at Turn 1 and later said he had worried about not finishing.
« First of all I have to say I’m very sorry for Max because he did a tremendous race, and he really deserved that the win, » Perez said after the race.
« It would have been incredible to get that one-two for the team. But at the end, you know it is a fantastic day for us.
« We were close to retiring the car, but luckily we managed to finish the race. And really, it was quite difficult all the way until the end. »
Red Bull boss Christian Horner later confirmed the team had been dealing with a hydraulics issue.
« He’d been losing [hydraulic pressure] gradually for the second half of the race, » Horner said.
« It was a concern at the restart. That’s why we restarted his engine so late, to put as little pressure on the system as possible ».
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/31577157/perez-nearly-had-retire-car-azerbaijan-gp-win
