Perez does not doubt strategy: 'Starting on hard was more of a gamble'

Sergio Perez had a disappointing race in Miami. After the hectic final qualifying session on Saturday, where Perez captured pole position, the Mexican seemed to have an easy Sunday ahead of him. Nothing was further from the truth, as Max Verstappen won the race from ninth starting position and was much faster than Perez.

Perez captured pole position on Saturday after Verstappen was unable to set a time due to Charles Leclerc's crash. As a result, the Dutchman started eight positions behind his teammate, but Verstappen still ran away with the victory. The two-time world champion had a different tyre strategy, which helped Verstappen make the difference.

Red Bull Racing decided to put its drivers on different strategies for the Miami race. The Mexican started the race on mediums, while Verstappen started the race on hard tyres. The mediums struggled in the first stint, while the hards were very good. Perez says he did not even think about starting on the hard tyres.

"No [we didn't think about it]. When you are starting on pole, starting on the hards is much more like a gamble that can go right or wrong with Safety Cars and, I think at the time, none of us were expecting the Medium to be so bad, because pretty much the whole grid went for the mediums at the start, I think none of us realised how weak of a tyre it was. I think once we did a few laps on it, we realised that it was quite a poor tyre." Perez told the FIA press conference after the race.