Former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez produced one of the best defensive drives against Lewis Hamilton during the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which earned him the nickname of “Minister of Defence”.

The Mexican driver played a key role in helping his then-teammate Max Verstappen claim his first driver’s World Championship against the British F1 legend.

Perez’s defensive drive in the season-finale at the Yas Marina Circuit was arguably the most vital one, given the circumstances. Both Hamilton and Verstappen had done their pitstops, but the former had an advantage of seven seconds on his title rival.

Sergio Perez, who had not pitted, couldn’t prevent Lewis Hamilton from making an initial overtake after the first DRS zone. But to the surprise of the Mercedes driver and everyone else, Perez fought back and repassed Hamilton at the end of Turn 9.

During the tight and twisty final sector, Perez slowed down massively, allowing Verstappen to close the gap on his title rival. And by the time Hamilton finally got past the Mexican, the Dutchman was within a second of the seven-time F1 world champion.

Max Verstappen spoke about Sergio Perez’s defense in his first interview as a world champion with F1.com and said:

“I think without Checo I wouldn’t be sitting here right now because then they would have had a pit gap with the Safety Car and stuff so definitely Checo was driving incredibly today.”
Throughout that season, Perez had aided his Dutch teammate on various occasions, such as his fight for P5 against Hamilton during the Turkish GP of that year where he held off the charging Mercedes driver.

When Red Bull team boss praised Sergio Perez for his defense against Lewis Hamilton
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had spoken about Sergio Perez’s role as the teammate for Max Verstappen during the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Speaking with Sky Sports, Horner praised the Mexican for his role in the strategy Red Bull had set in place before the title-deciding race.

“Checo’s been amazing,” Horner said “We talked about it before the race, how can he help Max; the way he backed Lewis up, he brought Max into play. They had a quicker car than us today, it was just strategy that we were able to make play.”
Further lauding Perez for his performances in the run-up to the final race, Horner added:

“The tow [in qualifying], we saw it in Monza; he’s done such a good job for this team and he’s a big part of this victory. He just sends it, and you can’t ask more from a teammate than that. He made it really tough for Lewis, he didn’t give up. Such a wonderful, wonderful job.”
Sergio Perez won five of his six races with Red Bull and departed the team at the end of the 2024 season, with the Austrian outfit announcing the news on Wednesday, December 18.

Was this article helpful?
Edited by Shirsh