Perez calls for review into Red Bull pit strategy

Sergio Perez will seek a review of Red Bull’s strategy during the Dutch Grand Prix after he was undercut by teammate Max Verstappen for the lead of the race.

Perez started Sunday’s event from seventh on the grid but pitted at the end of the first lap for Intermediate tyres as heavy rain hit the Zandvoort.

It proved to be a mighty call by Red Bull as Perez was catapulted into the lead while others lost time on the saturated circuit - the Mexican overtaking George Russell for the lead at Turn 1 on lap three.

However, after Verstappen switched to the Intermediate tyre, he overtook Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu for second place and set off after his teammate.

The Dutchman took 10 seconds out of Perez's lead in the following laps and as he closed up behind, it was Verstappen who was called into the pits first for the Soft compound.

“I think in that scenario the team has more information than we do at the time,” Perez told media including RacingNews365.com.

“So it’s something we obviously would review during the meeting, I'm sure there's a reason behind it.”

Explaining why his pace difference was so large to Verstappen on the Intermediate tyre, Perez said: “We were expecting rain, the team was telling me that there was more rain coming.

“So it was very important to… because the track was on the dry side so if I was to push I would just have destroyed completely the Inter tyre.”

Perez rues pit lane mistake

Perez crossed the line in third place, having survived a spin at Turn 1 when heavy rain began to fall at the end of the race.

He fell behind Alonso before the race was red flagged and at the restart, Perez picked up a penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

The error would cost him a podium as he took the flag third place, but didn't have enough of a gap over Alpine's Pierre Gasly behind.

When it was pointed out to him that a pit lane speeding violation only results in a fine in the practice and qualifying compared to a time penalty in the race, Perez exclaimed: “The rule is the rule.”

Having been left disappointed with his end result, Perez asserted that he deserved a spot inside the top three.

“It was chaos. Our call at the beginning turned out to be not so great in the end.

“It’s a shame that we ended up losing the podium because I feel like we deserved it.”