Marko dismisses Perez criticism after 'unbelievable' Alonso battle

Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko has hailed Sergio Perez's battle with Fernando Alonso at the São Paulo Grand Prix as "unbelievable".

The Mexican attacked the Aston Martin driver for the final podium position at Interlagos having fought his way up from ninth on the grid.

Perez had made easy work of Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to get into the position to fight Alonso but the Spaniard made it as hard as possible for a move to be made.

The deadlock was finally broken on the penultimate lap as Perez took his opportunity into Turn 4, only for Alonso to fight back and return the favour on the final lap.

After a drag to the line from Junção, Perez was a matter of metres from the podium.

No criticism for Perez

Asked whether Perez could have done anything differently, Marko told Sky Germany: "That's all in hindsight.

"The mistake was that Checo didn't get out of Turn 3 properly and later made a little move on the straight on the way to Turn 1, but anyway, unbelievable."

"Since Mexico, Checo's pace has been right, both in qualifying and in the race. He now has a solid 30-point lead over Lewis, so now we can assume second place."