A gutsy win in Jeddah shows F1’s Checo Pérez has the heart to fend off Verstappen
New York TimesMastering street circuits in Formula 1 requires a special kind of talent. They are all characteristics that Red Bull’s Sergio “Checo” Pérez has forged throughout his racing career, a meandering path of setbacks and recoveries that led him to the task of being Max Verstappen’s teammate. Prior to the safety car coming out, Verstappen’s gap to Pérez stood at 21 seconds — a gap that even a driver of Verstappen’s talent would struggle to make up without some kind of fortune going his way. Winning the race, again Pérez wasted little time in reestablishing the gap to Alonso behind, sitting two seconds clear after the first green flag lap once the safety car had come in. Although Verstappen made light work of both Russell and Alonso, restoring the Red Bull 1-2 when the race hit half distance, he now had over five seconds to make up to Pérez ahead.