Sergio Perez says it took him four races to shake off the after-effects of his crash in Monaco.
Perez crashed heavily during qualifying at Monaco and had to miss the race. He pulled out of the following event in Canada as he did not feel up to driving.
The Sauber driver said it took him until the Hungarian Grand Prix to recover fully:
“When I got back into the car for free practice in Canada I realised the difficulties I had. I felt dizzy, so it was impossible to drive.
“Two weeks later in Valencia I felt a lot better and was able to drive. It was better again in Silverstone and at the Nurburgring, but it was only in Budapest that I felt I was completely over it.
“It had been a very heavy impact and I learnt it takes time to physically make sure you feel right after suffering from concussion. Mentally it was a shock too. It helped me a lot to go home to Mexico and it was important to do all that work to prepare for racing again.”
Perez added that on the whole he was happy with his performance in his first year of F1: “Well, I’m happy in terms of the speed I had but I’m not happy in terms of results and points.
“Also because of my accident I missed two races – Monaco and Canada – in which the car and the team performed very well. After I got back into the car it still took me a few more races until I was really a hundred percent again. But regarding my overall performance in F1, I think I can be happy with my rookie season.”
He was most pleased with his drive to eighth at Suzuka:
“For me my strongest performance was in Japan. I drove the second fastest lap of the race and was able to overtake a few cars. The team’s strategy worked very well. I was really happy at the end of that Grand Prix.”
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Image (C) Sauber F1 Team
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
12th December 2011, 10:03
I think Perez has shown a lot of promise in his rookie year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in what will hopefully be a less troubled second season.
Julian (@julian)
12th December 2011, 11:30
Me too. I hope this lad will go far :)
BasCB (@bascb)
12th December 2011, 12:26
I can only agree with that @adrianmorse – and I think its good to hear a driver talk about how hard it is to get back in, makes us all consider that in real life as well.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
12th December 2011, 15:22
yeah, he showed great speed and racecraft. It’ll be easy to forget that superb drive at Melbourne, only stopping once, because the team got disqualified. But it was the kind of performance a driver delivers to show the world there’s a lot more to come…
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
12th December 2011, 15:46
He has done very well considering his accident. His overall points haul this year did not reflect how good he was.
I expect him to comfortably beat Kobayashi next year, showing more of the great talent he has. It’s probably the team-mate battle I’m looking forward to the most in 2012.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
12th December 2011, 22:31
Really doesn’t surprise me. You don’t hit a wall at that speed and recover in two weeks.
I really admired the guys admission in Canada. An experienced driver wouldn’t have thought twice about postponing a return, knowing that the team will wait. A rookie would want to avoid giving the impression of being weak or perhaps even missing valuable time in the car that would help in the future. I doubt any team in the circumstances would hold it against a driver, but I can’t imagine the level of paranoia at the top. Major respect to him for that.
electrolite (@electrolite)
12th December 2011, 22:52
@AndrewTanner Agreed.
85q
13th December 2011, 11:39
now thats an excellent comment, fully agree/
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
13th December 2011, 13:54
Thanks :D