Perez thanks Red Bull: "Team did a good job".

Sergio Perez consolidated his third place in the world championship standings by overtaking Valtteri Bottas in the final five laps of the French Grand Prix. The Mexican owes this to Red Bull Racing's excellent strategy, for which he thanked the team afterwards.

"Basically, the team did a good job leaving me in the first stint," Perez said to the Sky Sports camera. Keeping the RB16B on track was quite a challenge. "The car was pretty undriveable in the first ten laps and the last five laps of that stint. The degradation was a lot higher than expected."

Perez had Hamilton in sight

Because Perez stayed out about seven laps longer than Valtteri Bottas and less early on in his tyres (during the second stint), he managed to secure a podium spot. "The team made the right decisions. We managed the tyres when we needed to," he said. A second place would have been possible if the race had lasted a little longer. "We needed three more laps to catch Lewis."

A third-place finish is solid, but Perez is chasing more. "My weekend was not as complete as I would have liked. We have to keep improving," he concluded to the British medium.