Sergio 'Checo' Pérez acknowledged this Saturday that he apologized to Fernando Alonso after the incident they were involved in during the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Mexican driver, who was penalized with ten seconds for hitting the Spaniard's car with the front wing of his Cadillac, assured that the contact had no major consequences because the two-time world champion "did not waste much time" in the maneuver.

The man from Guadalajara will face a complicated race this Sunday as he starts from twentieth position on the grid. After a difficult day in qualifying, he explained that both the incident with Alonso and the speed session served to gather information that could help the team improve its performance during the competition.

"We used the morning sprint test as a learning opportunity after the mishap with Fernando (Alonso). I apologized for it, but, fortunately, he didn't lose much time in that incident," Pérez declared at the end of the activity on the British circuit.

Czech hopes to come back despite classification problems

The Mexican also explained that the modifications made to the car before qualifying ended up affecting the vehicle's behavior in fast corners, a situation that conditioned its result.

“In qualifying I had problems with my balance at high speed so we made a lot of changes and in one of them something happened that left me without front grip in the fast sections, something that hurt me a lot,” said Pérez, who returned to Formula One this season after spending a year out of the category. The Guadalajara driver has six victories, 39 podiums and was part of the constructors' titles obtained by Red Bull in 2022 and 2023.

Despite starting from the last places, the Mexican considers that the race can offer opportunities to advance positions. "We gathered good information for tomorrow and hopefully we can be a little stronger in the race and get into the fight in the middle zone. Many things are going to happen, so we will just have to be at the right time in the right place since there may be opportunities," he stated.

While Pérez will try to come back from twentieth place, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start from pole position after setting the best time in qualifying. The Mercedes driver, leader of the championship at just 19 years old, achieved his fifth pole in Formula One, all obtained during the current season.

Charles Leclerc will start second for Ferrari, followed by Lewis Hamilton. George Russell will occupy fourth place on the grid, while Isack Hadjar and Lando Norris will start from the third row. Further back will appear Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, with Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completing the top ten places.

Carlos Sainz will start fifteenth, Franco Colapinto will start from nineteenth place and Fernando Alonso will start twenty-second in a test scheduled for 52 laps on the 5,891 meters of the historic Silverstone circuit.