The best race drives of 2019
Bahrain GP (3rd)
This dominant, unrewarded performance is significant because it proved Leclerc could cut it at the front under the most intense pressure.
On pole position for the first time in F1, a weaker-willed driver might have wilted after the start. His launch was good, but he struggled for grip in the second phase and in the early corners of the race as the rear tyres weren’t quite up to temperature. That allowed Sebastian Vettel to pass on the run to the first corner, followed by Lewis Hamilton at Turn 4.
Then the fightback began. Leclerc overtook Hamilton, then closed on Vettel. On lap five, he reported he was quicker but was told to hold position for two laps – he passed Vettel at the end of the main straight on the next lap.
He was just under seven seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton on lap 46 when a short circuit within an injection system control unit meant his engine dropped a cylinder and left him a sitting duck. With fuel problems, caused by spending longer on the straights thanks to a loss of around 25mph top speed, all he could do was manage the situation.
Hamilton and Vettel inevitably passed him, but the failures of Nico Hulkenberg’s and Daniel Ricciardo’s Renaults triggered a safety car that saved Leclerc from Max Verstappen and allowed him to salvage his first podium.
“We executed a perfect race,” was Perez’s verdict shortly after finishing seventh – heading the midfield – in the Mexican Grand Prix. In a season full of outstanding Sunday drives for Perez, this one stands as the best.
While he had one crucial advantage over his midfield-leading rivals in that he qualified 11th and therefore had free tyre choice, the Racing Point was clearly slower in race trim than the Mclarens, Toro Rossos and Renaults.
Starting on medium Pirellis, Perez ran 11th in the early stages before passing the two soft-shod Toro Rossos, and the punctured Max Verstappen, to run eighth. Both Mclarens hit trouble in the pitstops, which promoted Perez to sixth.
Although, inevitably, Verstappen caught and passed him, Perez’s real battle was with Ricciardo. Perez stopped for hard rubber on lap 20, but the Renault driver went to lap 50 on hards before stopping for mediums.
Perez’s advantage peaked at 4.8s on Ricciardo’s out-lap before it started to tumble. But Perez’s characteristic brilliant tyre management meant he could still lap within half a second of Ricciardo.
Ricciardo did catch Perez, but launched what he called a 30/70 move at the first corner, locking up and going off. He rejoined and caught Perez again, but he was never able to make another move.
Perez’s tyre management and ability to execute a race brilliantly had paid off again.