Sergio Perez took a dig at fellow drivers after losing out to Fernando Alonso as he claimed that the wheel-to-wheel battle is something that every driver can learn from. The two drivers went head to head in the dying stages of the race in the battle for the podium. In the end, it was the Spaniard who got the jump and was .053 sec ahead of the Mexican as he took the chequered flag.
During the race, Sergio Perez started from P9 and made his way up the grid to P4 and started hunting down the Aston Martin of Alonso. After pulling off a move with a couple of laps left, the Red Bull driver was overtaken on the last lap by the Spaniard on the straight after the Senna esses. While Sergio did try to get the position on the finish line he would fall short of it.
Talking about the race and the battle for P3 in the race, Sergio Perez was very complimentary of Fernando Alonso and said other drivers could learn a thing or two from the battle between the two drivers. He said,
"It was quite an intense battle. We tried everything. Unfortunately we didn’t succeed on that, but it was well deserved for Fernando. I think we had a great fight, very fair and to the limit. I think this is something that a lot of drivers can learn from because what we did, the way we fought today, it’s how it should be done."
He added,
"I’m in the wrong side, I end up losing but it’s fine because it was a great fight. We’ve seen in the last couple of races that the pace has been there, that we’ve been really strong, and for some reason or another we haven’t been able to get the final end result, but I just know that it’s a matter of time."
Sergio Perez reflects on his performance in the F1 Brazilian GP
After the race, Sergio Perez was happy with how the race went and felt that the performance was proof of him finding his rhythm in the car. He felt that he was always on the backfoot when it came to the strategy against the Spaniard and that's what cost him in the end. He said,
"It took me a while to get through the Mercedes and that damaged my race, after that we were always a bit on the back foot with Fernando. We were chipping away at him and towards the end we came really close to the podium. I have to say well done to Fernando because it was a great fight and really fair racing."
He added,
"Between us, whoever got the podium, it was well deserved, and he got it. I had the opportunity and went for it but he was really fast on the straights and I don’t think I could have done anything differently in the final few laps."
The performance also helped Sergio Perez extend the lead in the championship to Lewis Hamilton to 32 points with two races left. This should help the Mexican to secure his seat for the near future.