Mister Perfect Sergio Perez got the message over the radio “King of the Streets” as he crossed the line to win the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, beating his Red Bull teammate and Max Verstappen in a straight-out street fight, on Sunday, in Baku.
With the season’s first Sprint Race winners trophy claimed on Saturday in style, it was again Perez at his very best we have seen, the Checo we got a glimpse of in Jeddah last month when he won that race in a similar style: holding off a charging Verstappen, who again, this weekend had no answer to his teammate on race day once the Mexican took the lead after a Safety Car intervention.
Delighted with his sixth career F1 victory, the only driver to win in Baku twice, Perez said in parc ferme: “It really worked out for us, we managed to keep the pressure on Max which I think we had a better deg on that first stint. It was looking good already from that side, then the safety car came and it bunched everyone up so it was again another race on the hard tyres.
“It was very close between us, we pushed to the maximum today, we both clipped the walls a few times, we were pushing out there, the way Max pushed me throughout the race was really hard but we managed to keep him under control.”
Checo: Red Bull enjoy calling me the King of the Streets
Later, reflecting on another top day in his mushrooming career, Perez added: “An unbelievable weekend, I am super pleased and I cannot say more about the Team, it has been a tremendous day for us and I am so proud of everyone. I want to say a big thanks to Thibaut, he is one of my mechanics who is at home for personal reasons, but he is still a very big part of our Team.
“The Team enjoy calling me the King of the Streets, I am super happy for them all. They have been tremendous all weekend, from the sprint race yesterday through to the way we executed the race today, it was perfect.
“Today we were the fastest car on track and regardless of the safety car we would have won the race. I am definitely in the fight for the title, not just because of Baku, I believe I can be very good anywhere this season and now I am just thinking of Miami. There are a lot of races coming up and we must make sure we are on it.”
In the wake of their fourth out of four one-twos this season, the Bulls are rampaging to an easy consecutive F1 constructors’ championship triumph while one of their lads is sure to win the 2023 F1 drivers’ title, the big question is which one? Perez has narrowed the points gap to Verstappen by six points at the top of the points table, F1 now heading to downtown Miami, for Round 5, where the ‘King of the Streets’ could shine again.
Baku x2 🏆🏆 The only two-time winner of the #AzerbaijanGP 💪 pic.twitter.com/fWt8QvkjeU
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 30, 2023