Perez explains approach: 'I knew I had to force Leclerc into a mistake'

Like last season, Sergio Perez played a key role in this year's championship denouement. Without DRS, the Red Bull Racing driver knew he had to force Charles Leclerc into a mistake to secure second place, he told the press conference after the Japanese Grand Prix.

As the race progressed, Leclerc suffered tyre problems, which allowed Perez to get closer quickly. On the last lap, the Mexican went full on the attack, but the lack of DRS hampered his overtaking attempts. "It was a nice battle again," Perez said after the race. In the corners where he tried to mount an attack, he actually saw the Ferrari driver pull away.

Perez had to force Leclerc into an error

Perez saw his rival use his tyres as well as he could, but also saw that they were running out towards the end. However, that is not to say that Leclerc just let himself be overtaken. "He was making it really hard, so I knew that the only way I could get him was if I push him into a mistake," the Mexican continued.

That worked, but then something unexpected happened. There was ambiguity about what exactly the last lap was, as could be seen with Max Verstappen. The race winner crossed the finish line and the race was flagged off, but Verstappen thought he had one more lap to go.

That was also the case for Perez, who thought he had one more lap to go to secure second place. So he did not immediately assume a penalty for the Ferrari driver. "Towards the end I thought there was one more lap left so when he went off, I thought that was going to be the opportunity," he explained. "But it didn't happen and we managed to get a good result for the team and a great one-two."