Sergio Perez had to deal with “bullshit” stories about his return to Mexico, the hardship of coronavirus-enforced isolation, and a “difficult to digest” Racing Point legality saga during his two-race absence from Formula 1.
Perez tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the British Grand Prix. He did not when he picked up the virus but with a free weekend between F1’s two triple-headers he had travelled back to Mexico, which he said was to visit his mother who had been injured and was just out of hospital.
“I saw so much bullshit and disrespect because some people think that in Formula 1 we are bulletproof to this virus but that’s not the case” :: Sergio Perez
However, there was speculation that Perez returned to Mexico for a different reason, such as a meeting with key sponsors to try to secure more funding and end the rumours that Sebastian Vettel may take his Racing Point seat next season.
Perez slammed this as “very unprofessional” and called it “a total lie”.
“I went to Mexico for two days to see my mum, with all the precautions in place,” he said.
“I took care of everything, I followed all the guidelines that we have and I basically was there for two days and came back to Europe.
“While I was in quarantine I saw everything. I saw people saying that I was taking selfies with a lot of people, I saw that I made up the story about my mum.
“I saw so much bullshit and disrespect because some people think that in Formula 1 we are bulletproof to this virus but that’s not the case.
“We are all very vulnerable to this. We have to take care with it.
“I’ve done nothing differently to anyone in this paddock. I took all the precautions and it just happened to me.”
Perez believes the next person to contract the virus will suffer from the same situation where “people will just make up stories instead of being worried about their health”.
He has previously said he was largely asymptomatic but found his mandatory time in isolation difficult as he was separated from his family, had concerns about his health and was not sure when he could return to F1 – with Nico Hulkenberg driving in his place.
“I’m very happy to be back, I missed it so much,” he said. “The last two weeks have been very hard for me and for my family.
“In the beginning I was thinking about the race, I was actually going for a run. They came and told me I had tested positive.
“I was like ‘but I’m feeling great, I’m really fit, ready for the race’, and all of a sudden you’re thinking about your health, and that you have a very bad virus in your system that kills people.
“My health was more important at that point than being able to race.
“People worked really hard to deliver this car and they’ve done nothing wrong” :: Sergio Perez
“It was very hard for all of us to be in this position because you don’t expect all of a sudden to be in this situation.
“I had to stay away from my family for 10 days and it was pretty hard.”
Hulkenberg qualified third on the grid at the second Silverstone race, having been ruled out of the opener with a technical problem.
Perez said it was “very difficult to digest” seeing his car being driven by someone else.
“It was hard,” he admitted. “But in the end you put everything into perspective and the best thing about it was that my family was healthy, that I was healthy.
“The rest is just Formula 1 and I hope I jump in the car and I get back all those points that I lost in the last two races.”
Perez’s team-mate Lance Stroll has moved above him in the championship by six points after finishing ninth and sixth in the two Silverstone grands prix.
That, combined with Hulkenberg finishing seventh, helped Racing Point immediately respond to a 15-point penalty it received after its brake ducts were deemed to have been illegally developed using Mercedes information.
Racing Point is already back ahead of Renault, the team that protested it, in the championship but without the penalty it would be third in the constructors’ championship.
“I’m looking forward massively to this weekend and to be strong, to be competitive,” he said.
“I was aware that we lost 15 points in the constructors’ championship so I hope we recover all of them.
“It was very, very difficult, because the team has done so much work and I felt that in a way a lot of faith has been taken out with all the news that we’ve seen.”
Racing Point is appealing that verdict and has been unhappy with remarks made by other teams that question the legitimacy of the RP20’s wider design.
The RP20 is a visual ‘copy’ of the 2019 Mercedes, which Racing Point says was produced using legal photography. Rivals have seriously questioned that, effectively alleging there has been collusion between the two teams.
“It hurts them because they’ve done a tremendous job,” said Perez.
“I remember back last year when there was a lot of uncertainty regarding which direction to take with the car, it was a massive risk that the team took to go in the direction that we went.
“It paid off, but it could well have been a really bad decision and no one would be talking about it.
“The reason they talk about it is because it’s fast. But people worked really hard to deliver this car and they’ve done nothing wrong.
“In a way it’s not a surprise when you see the amount of success the team has had in past years with a limited budget.”
