Sergio Perez might have had 'a chance to win' the 2022 F1 British GP had Charles Leclerc not fought with his 'hard and older tires,' says 'annoyed' Red Bull team advisor

Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko has claimed that Sergio Perez had a chance at victory at the 2022 British GP last weekend, had he not been held up by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Marko said that he was “annoyed” at Leclerc for fighting Perez despite being on old hard tires. Leclerc cost the latter precious time that he otherwise could have spent attacking Carlos Sainz for the lead of the race. Speaking to ServusTV ahead of the 2022 Austrian GP, Marko said:

“I was annoyed that Leclerc fought like that with his hard and older tyres, because we had a chance to win with Perez."

“We had the fastest car at the time, but in the battle first with Hamilton and then especially with Leclerc, we lost time and that’s when Sainz got the advantage that allowed him to win.”

Sergio Perez was relegated to the bottom of the grid following contact with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari on the race restart. Nonetheless, he drove a brilliant recovery drive to come home in P2. Leclerc had barged past the Mexican in a rather clumsy move, inflicting substantial damage to the latter’s car, forcing him to pit for repairs.

Throughout much of the race, Perez made solid progress. A late safety car intervention brought on by Esteban Ocon’s retirement put him in contention for the podium positions.

But Sergio Perez seemed to have far better pace compared to Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes as well as both Ferraris. After quickly relegating Hamilton on the restart, Perez was held up by Leclerc’s superb defense, which allowed Hamilton to come back at the pair, setting the stage for a three-way battle.

Meanwhile, Sainz exploited the battle by building himself a considerable lead to ultimately take his first career victory.

Sergio Perez calls for salary cap discussions to be dropped following Guanyu Zhou’s Silverstone crash

Sergio Perez has called for discussions over a potential drivers’ salary cap to be curtailed following Guanyu Zhou’s heavy shunt at the British GP last weekend.

Perez believes that drivers deserve to earn as much as they can, given the amount of personal risk that they take every time they get into the car. Speaking to Express UK, the Red Bull driver said:

"When you hear people talking about putting a cap on the drivers’ salaries. We are the ones putting all the risk out there, giving a show. So I don't think it's a good thing to be talking about that in the sport moving forward.”

He added, saying:

"Everyone is benefitting, so why should the drivers, with their IP rights and everything, be capped? We actually bring the show and put our lives at risk. So for me, it's completely wrong."

Following the success of the team budget cap, there have been several discussions between the teams and F1 regarding a potential cap on drivers’ salaries.

While most teams are seemingly in favor of the idea, it hasn’t found universal support from drivers.