"He didn’t look like he had three kids when he made that move": Sergio Perez's risky moves at 130R praised by Christian Horner

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently said that he was impressed by Sergio Perez's overtakes at 130R on Sunday in the 2024 Japanese GP.

The Mexican driver displayed some of his best overtakes in a long time while passing the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the 130R before the chicane in the final sector.

Sergio Perez found himself covering undercuts from the cars behind him and to save time on the track, he had to pull off overtakes at unusual places like the fast right-hander. While commenting on his charge's drive for P2 in the race, Christian Horner said to Motorsportweek.com:

“I thought Checo, in particular, has had a strong weekend. To qualify within a tenth of his team-mate here. The race pace was strong obviously, he had the disadvantage of having to come back through the traffic.

“There were a couple of moments where I must admit, I had my eyes shut as he went into 130R… do you need to do it there? Can’t you wait until the straight? He didn’t look like he had three kids when he made that move!”

In his post-race press conference, Sergio Perez himself was pleased with the overtakes he did at 130R and added:

"Yeah, it just turned out to happen both at the same time. Spending time around one of the slowest cars, given the degradation they were having, was quite penalizing. So I was just going for it. And it happened at 130R both times. No, it's good fun. It's good fun to go around there with two cars."

Sergio Perez previews the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix for Red Bull

After a third 1-2 finish for Red Bull in four races, Sergio Perez believes that the Shanghai International Circuit would also suit the RB20 as it contains similar features to Suzuka.

In his press conference, the Red Bull driver noted:

"It's a bit of a similar track, I'll say, with a lot of high-speed, medium-speed content. I think if we are able to be fast around this place, we can be fast in many other races, so it should be a good track for us as well."

It will be quite worrying for the rest of the grid if Red Bull is as strong in China as they had been in Suzuka as it would deny them the chance to fight for the win on an F1 track that is returning after five years.