The start of the 2022 bFormula 1 season caused the Mexican fans to return their attention to the Tapatio driver Sergio Checo Pérez. The Red Bull Racing member was very close to taking his first podium of the year at the Saudi Arabian GP, however, mistakes unrelated to Jalisco caused him to fall out of the top spots and lost pole position.
Although Checo Pérez remained in third place throughout the race at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, he failed to achieve the podium due to the activation of the ibVirtual Safety Carb and a pit stop. These events in the race sentenced him to be left out of the top three drivers.
Shortly before lap 17, Sergio Pérez stopped in the Red Bull pits, until that moment he was in third place. He was forced to make that stop because he reported wear on his right tire, so he was at risk if he didn't change it.
It was thus that when he came out of the pit break he placed in fifth position behind the Ferrari duo, Verstappen and George Russell, from Mercedes Benz. Until then he had the chance to climb the places and take the lead in the race. But an accident on the track caused him to slow down. The person responsible for that incident was Nicholas Latifi, a driver of the Williams team.
Shortly after Checo Pérez left his pit stop, Latifi lost control of his vehicle and in a tight corner he stuck to the retaining wall, which ended in a chaotic clash that left different materials loose on the track.
Formula 1 authorities immediately activated the virtual safery car protocol, forcing vehicles to follow the directions of the yellow flag and slow down. Competing cars had to lower the intensity of the competition.
An action by Checo Pérez in which he accelerated and resumed his third place, while the virtual safery car was still underway, caused the Formula 1 authorities to investigate the Mexican for his possible breach of the protocol.
To avoid penalties, he was asked to let Carlos Sainz Jr. , a Ferrari driver, who until that time was in fourth place. Once Checo let it go, he was left out of the podium places.
Later, the virtual safery car was removed to allow the continuation of the race. Although there were still laps ahead, Checo no longer managed to regain positions and finished in fourth place.
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