Sergio Perez claimed fastest lap at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, to add to his impressive points haul after starting at the back of the grid.
That means the Mexican leaves Melbourne with 11 points and only drops 14 to race-winner Max Verstappen in the championship.
Perez set his time of 1:20.235 on Lap 53, beating Verstappen‘s previous best time by a tenth.
That came after Perez had made it into the point-scoring positions, after his qualifying came to a premature end in the gravel trap.
That meant he started from the Albert Park pit lane, but he was able to quickly make up ground thanks to the Red Bull‘s unbeatable straight-line speed and the four DRS zones around the circuit.
Then came the chaotic and controversial end of the race. Race control threw a red flag with two laps to go with Perez sitting eighth, and after mayhem at the restart he looked to have lost it all when he ran off at Turn 1.
However, another red flag was thrown and not only did Perez recover those positions lost, he jumped up three when Carlos Sainz was given a five-place penalty and Pierre Gasly took out teammate Esteban Ocon at the restart.
Verstappen was crowned the winner ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, the latter was another beneficiary of the reset under the last red flag as he’d been tipped off by Carlos Sainz.
