Braking Point: Why Perez can bounce back from Q2 exit

Named driver of the day by the watching fans, the Mexican delivered an impressive performance from the back of the grid to finish fifth, giving off perhaps the first signal that he can fill the role Red Bull carved out for him.

Given his performance on Saturday in qualifying and the battle between Verstappen and Hamilton at the front, it was perhaps a fortuitous driver of the day victory, but nonetheless Perez was able to salvage plenty of credit from a weekend that looked like it could be about to go off the rails when his car stopped out on track during the formation lap.

Perez has never been the type of driver to deliver dazzling one lap pace, but that has rarely been to his detriment such is his ability to maximise his output on race day. The 31-year-old has shown an uncanny ability throughout his career to understand the pitch of a race, pushing when the time is right and conserving tyres when staying put is more prudent. There is a reason that he has finished on the podium 10 times across a career where, up until this season, he has never driven a genuinely front-running car.

That is not to say that qualifying 11th in a car that your teammate put on pole is acceptable and Perez was the first to admit that. Following the conclusion of a disappointing first Saturday with Red Bull he said: "I think that was the right call from the team to try to go through on the medium, but I just didn’t put the lap together."

Now given it was his first outing and there was limited testing this year, it is fair to give him the benefit of the doubt. One bad lap does not make him a bad driver. If this persists, then we have an issue, but he sounds confident that it will not.

"I just have to be patient with myself, put the work in and it should be just a matter of time. I’m not concerned at all," he added.

Understandably, given the failings of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon in that second Red Bull seat, there is some concern that Perez will fall short in a similar manner. But in truth, Perez is on a different plane to his predecessors in terms of experience. The Mexican has taken his knocks and fought back from difficult moments. Saturday's Q2 exit was not his first disappointment in Formula 1, nor will it be his last.

In terms of finding a driver that can maximise on race day and support Verstappen in the title fight, there are few more qualified than the former Racing Point man. With more time in the simulator and laps under his belt, Perez will expect to be in that top four on the grid more weekends than not and given his race pace, that should be a scary proposition for Mercedes.

Compared to the drivability issues that the Red Bull suffered with at times in 2020, the RB16B looks far more compliant and Perez showed on Sunday that he has a decent handle on it. Now given the car's pace, fifth should not be some great surprise and following the early safety car, I am certain Red Bull would have expected such a result to be possible. But after a tough start, Checo overcame the first hurdle in front of him and did as much as he could in terms of maximising points for the team.

Fighting at the front is a different beast to the midfield and the learning curve is steep. But I have little doubt that by the time Imola and a few more of the European rounds roll around, Perez will be right where Verstappen and Red Bull need him to be.