Sergio Perez will seek answers as to why he “simply didn’t have the pace” to challenge Max Verstappen in Miami.
The Mexican looked to have a great opportunity to take the championship lead starting from pole, while his Red Bull teammate started ninth in Sunday’s race.
However, Verstappen produced a mighty first stint that put him in a position to catch and pass Perez shortly after his pit-stop to take his third win of the season.
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Speaking in parc ferme post-race, Checo conceded his tyre strategy simply didn’t work out as he had hoped.
“I tried. I gave it all, you know,” he said. “I think the first stint was really poor with the graining that we had on that medium tyre.
“That compromised the race quite a lot because we didn’t have too much of a difference on tyres. Max was particularly strong today, so a well-deserved win for him.
“He had tremendous pace on the hard tyre and I think I’m going to analyse what went wrong today because we simply didn’t have the pace.”
Despite his distinct tyre disadvantage, Perez didn’t make it easy for Verstappen when the two Red Bull drivers went wheel-to-wheel for the first time this season.
Racing hard and fair for the win ??
? @F1 pic.twitter.com/5VRXxjwoFf
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 9, 2023
“Obviously at the end of the day, we have to put the team ahead of us,” he explained.
“We are just two drivers but there are so many people working back home and working really hard we have to show respect.
“In the end, we had a really good fight between us and I think a bit more would have meant contact and I don’t think that would have been fair for any of us.”
As for Red Bull boss Christian Horner, he believed Verstappen was simply on another level in Miami.
“To be honest with you today, I think with the pace [Max] had, it wouldn’t have mattered if he just started on the soft, the medium or the hard tyre!” he said.
