Perez enjoys intense duel with Hamilton: 'He was the fastest on the track'

Sergio Perez finished on the podium for the first time in nine races. After the Turkish Grand Prix, Perez was relieved that things finally went his way and enjoyed the duel with Lewis Hamilton.

It was not an easy race for Perez in Turkey, as the Mexican had to start the race from P6. With a good start, however, the Mexican quickly closed in on the top three. He never managed to mount a real attack on Charles Leclerc, but he was in the right place. The most important battle was with Hamilton.

Battle with Hamilton

''Yeah, it was pretty intense at that point because Lewis really got me at the worst time of my race today because I was struggling so much with my tyres at that point. That first stint was so difficult for me, especially towards the end and Lewis was pretty fast. I think at the time he was the fastest car on track, so to hold him back at that point was pretty challenging,'' Perez said at the post-race press conference.

''We had a good fight. Had to even avoid the pit bollard on pit entry, but it was a good fight overall, and managed to stay ahead. Yeah, I think we were all very nervous today about boxing for new tyres, because of what happened last year. I think it was the right call when we boxed, because I had the time to really introduce my tyres and learn what went wrong on my first stint to try to apply it for my second stint, which really made my race, you know? I think we took a good advantage on that second stint.''

Perez makes steps forward

Overall, Perez can be very satisfied with his performance this weekend. The Red Bull driver scored another podium but was also competitive throughout the weekend. That he managed to hold off Hamilton will have made many in the Red Bull garage happy.

''Yeah, definitely. The whole weekend has been a lot more competitive. Yesterday in qualifying we didn’t get to show that because we were very aggressive with our strategy, so that put us on the backfoot with the Soft tyres into qualifying. I think we just miss that couple of tenths that we had in hand, because we’ve shown good pace throughout the weekend and I’m sure we could have had a much better qualifying. So yeah, certainly I can see that understanding I am getting more together with the car'', concludes Max Verstappen's teammate.