Perez proud after Monza: 'Overtaking was very hard'

Sergio Perez was once again unable to threaten his teammate Max Verstappen for victory in Italy but did finish second. The Mexican started the race fifth and fought his way to the front, which, according to Perez, was certainly not easy.

Perez was on P2 behind winner Verstappen for the fourth time this year. "I'm happy because I think it was not an easy race. Overtaking was super hard. The straight-line speed that we had probably was not there. I had to fight really hard with Carlos, with Charles, with George and damaged my tyres a lot. Luckily we survived," Perez told Viaplay.

Perez had been struggling in his RB19 recently. At one point, for instance, the Red Bull Racing driver failed to reach Q3 five times in a row, while teammate Verstappen captured pole position in all those qualifying sessions. Perez believes he will be back to his old form after his weekend in Monza. At the start of the 2023 season, the Mexican won two more races.

"I think it's been a very strong weekend. We didn't get to show it yesterday, but generally a very strong weekend performance and I really believe that we are back to our form. So let's see the next races." The next race scheduled is the Singapore Grand Prix. Perez won that race last year.