After Red Bull's stumble at the Bahrain GP, where the two single-seaters dropped out in the final stretch of the race, the Austrian team recovered from reliability problems and performed solidly at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen was able to win over the two Ferrari drivers.
In the midst of the car's good performance over the weekend, Sergio Pérez became the main protagonist of the qualifying day, as he stood up for the team and won a historic pole position, with which Red Bull was able to start in first place and keep Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz behind.
Despite this great start to the week and maintaining the top position for 15 laps, the Mexican's performance was not enough for the Formula 1 judges to put him on the podium of best drivers during the weekend, as was his result of career, was placed in fourth position, behind Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and George Russell.
This is how the F1 Power Rankings were after the Saudi Arabian GP:
1. Charles Leclerc: 9.0
2. Max Verstappen: 8.8
3. George Russell: 8.4
4. Sergio Perez: 8.2
5. Lando Norris: 8.2
6. Carlos Sainz: 8.0
7. Fernando Alonso: 8.0
8. Esteban Ocon: 8.0
9. Kevin Magnussen: 7.8
10. Daniel Ricciardo: 7.4
Although Charles Leclerc started in second place and lost the lead against Max Verstappen, he was the best ranked by the five judges who determine the ratings.
“Leclerc, who qualified in second place, led 30 of 50 laps, but lost in a late battle under the lights in Jeddah. He came close, finishing just 0.549 seconds behind the Red Bull of the current champion,” argued the official F1 portal.
On the other hand, the reasons for Formula 1 for putting Checo Pérez in fourth place, tied with Lando Norris in fifth, were not really specified, as they merely described his good performance in qualifying and the bad fortune he had with the safety car.
“Poleman Sergio Pérez was, in many respects, unfortunate to have not finished better than fourth in the race. The Mexican took a scorching lap on Saturday, while Verstappen only managed P4, but the pair exchanged positions on Sunday when Perez faced just before the safety car of lap 16 “, the middle mentioned.
Due to these new qualifications, which also had Russell among the top three drivers, Carlos Sainz in fifth despite his podium and Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso in the top 10 despite dropping out, criticism on social media was immediately manifested.
As is already customary, even memes were made present because of the alleged preference for British pilots, such as George Russel or Lando Norris, and the contempt for Spanish or Mexican pilots.
“Russel taller than Checo, Norris taller than Sainz (clown emoticon) Although Leclerc missed pole for less than 0.05 seconds, the race is on Sunday and Max won it, so how is it even lower? At a minimum, Max should have the same qualification as Leclerc. Once again, these ratings are hilariously bad,” said one of the fans.
In addition, other fans defended Sergio Pérez's good performance despite not finishing on the podium, especially because of the bad luck he had with the safety car, but above all because he appeared less qualified than George Russell.
“Pérez did better work than Russell, even better than Verstappen”, “Russell ahead that Checo and Sainz is a joke, stop this mi***”, said two other followers, who showed their dissatisfaction with the ratings this weekend.
It should be recalled that last week, after the Bahrain GP, Checo was not even included in the top 10 despite having had a solid race, as a retreat one lap from the end due to engine failures took away the podium and a possible better qualification in the F1 ranking.
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