Title: Mexican Driver Checo Pérez Starts Ninth at Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying
Published: July 22, 2023, 11:30 a.m. ET
Reading Time: 2 min.
The Mexican driver, Checo Pérez, had a bittersweet qualifying session at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Although he advanced to Q3 for the first time in five races, he was unable to compete for pole position and will have to start from ninth place.
The FIA and F1 had introduced a new qualifying format in search of equality. This change seemed untimely for Pérez, who had suffered a streak of five races being eliminated in Q1 and Q2. However, Pérez silenced the critics and managed to exceed the limitations of Q2.
During Q1, Pérez strategically took to the track before anyone else to avoid potential problems. He quickly set a good time, placing himself in second position with a time of 1:19.292.
As the minutes passed, Pérez dropped to sixth place. However, during his second attempt, he climbed back to second position and improved his time to 1:18.884, almost half a second faster.
During the last moments of Q1, track conditions improved, allowing Pérez a third attempt. For a few seconds, he even held the first place with a time of 1:18.360, before being surpassed by Guanyu Zhou and Max Verstappen. Pérez secured the third position.
In Q2, Pérez delivered a solid performance, clocking a time of 1:17:675 on his first lap. However, Verstappen again took the top spot.
Although Pérez failed to improve his times in Q2, he remained among the top places, ensuring his spot in the qualifying zone with the yellow tires. Finally breaking his five-race streak, Pérez secured an eighth-place finish on the starting grid.
While accessing Q3 was a personal achievement for the Guadalajara native, his initial time of 1:17.142 quickly dropped him to fifth place. With the drivers required to use the red tires, Pérez returned to the pits and managed a modest improvement to 1:17.045, securing him the ninth starting position.
Despite the achievement of reaching Q3, Pérez faces a new challenge on Sunday as he seeks another comeback from the fifth row on the grid. With historically challenging results on this track, Pérez aims to secure a podium finish.