Sergio Perez navigated the Austrian Grand Prix weekend while fighting fever-like symptoms, and his health remains a concern heading into this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver fell ill on Wednesday night in Austria and skipped his media duties on Thursday, but was on track when action began on Friday.It continued to be a difficult week as his symptoms persisted and Perez qualified 15th for the grand prix on Friday afternoon. On Saturday he qualified second behind team mate Max Verstappen for the sprint race, but finished 21 seconds behind him in the 24-lap event.
On Sunday Perez made his way up from 15th to third, and in the post-race press conference detailed the impact of his illness and why he fears it could continue to affect him as he heads into the second part of back-to-back race weekends.
Perez said he was feeling “definitely not great” after completing Sunday’s 71-lap race at the Red Bull Ring.
“I haven’t had a good rest. Every night I’ve had a fever and I think when that happens and then you are on medications, automatically you are not 100% at all.”
He is concerned his illness will continue to affect him at this weekend’s British Grand Prix, as the high-speed Silverstone circuit places severe demands on drivers’ fitness.
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“It’s a very demanding sport, in the car and out of the car,” said Perez. “I’ve just been really sick, so I really hope that I can recover in a few days, because Silverstone is another very hard race, very demanding.
“I really need time. I’m really far from 100% at the moment.”
Perez was “really happy” to rise from 15th on the grid to claim his fifth podium of the year despite feeling ill.
“It’s been a very difficult weekend for me personally, physically. I have been really, really weak. I was sick on Thursday. So it hasn’t been an easy weekend.” Perez said his fever meant he got “no sleep during the weekend,” though he was considered fit enough to race.
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2023 Austrian Grand Prix
- Mercedes left scratching heads by lack of performance at Austrian GP
- Verstappen’s determination to grab every point makes him a record-breaker
- Austrian GP track limits farce was avoidable like ‘IndyGate’ and Spa 2021 – Brown
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- Paddock Diary: 2023 Austrian Grand Prix
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
3rd July 2023, 12:44
Sounds like a decent opportunity to trial, erm… give Ricciardo some needed real-life correlation data with his sim work.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
3rd July 2023, 14:29
Bring up Nyck de Vries, I seem to remember him doing well in a previous one-off.
And if he fails, he can easily be asked to never come back to the junior team, either.
drmouse (@drmouse)
3rd July 2023, 14:32
I’m with the above: If Perez is struggling so much, they have a reserve driver sat there and a junior in the sister team, as well as AFAIK another young driver waiting for a chance (can’t remember their name). Give Perez a break to recover, and as a side benefit see how someone else performs in his seat. If they give Danny Rick a race, it could also help massively with testing, helping to correlate data between the real car and the simulator…
Paul
3rd July 2023, 16:42
The Conor Moore “Evil Danny” storyline nears completion.
Deep Sky
3rd July 2023, 17:10
Spot on!
SanFran (@andrewfrancis80)
3rd July 2023, 17:20
Get your excuses in early…
4LegitTitlesSebastianVettel
4th July 2023, 20:16
perez should quit F1 he has the best car yet he is mediocre.
Prashanth Ramadas
9th July 2023, 1:24
Celebrities generally do these kinds of things at their peak of their career to grab public attention.