In the cool down room after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Max Verstappen remarked that teammate Sergio Perez was "lucky" after a Safety Car came out and enabled him to stay in the lead of the race. Red Bull had elected to pit Verstappen early due to tyre degradation, which caused him to lose a place from Charles Leclerc when the Safety Car period happened. While Perez was catching Verstappen in the opening stages, the Mexican thinks that he would have won the race on pure pace and blamed his teammates poor tyre management. "Yes, I think I had the pace on Sunday in Baku to win the race," he said, when asked if he did not need the Safety Car to win by RacingNews365.com . "I think on that first stint, on that lap if he wouldn't have pitted... I mean you never know, but I was quite close on the DRS but he was struggling already with the tyres so I think I would've gotten him." Perez ultimately finished the race 2.1s ahead of Verstappen, with the pair 19 seconds ahead of Leclerc.
Perez: Not thinking about the championship at the moment
After winning two of the first four races, it is the best start to a season for Perez in his Formula 1 career. The Mexican says he is taking it 'race-by-race' as he looks to close the six-point gap between himself and Verstappen, who admitted that he favours the upcoming street races less compared to circuits. "It's what I've been working my whole life for and I'm just enjoying, I have no pressure, I've had a great career, and if I'm able to keep this going, I just want to win many more races," said Perez. "Now I'm just thinking about Miami, I'm not thinking too much on the championship at the moment, I'm mainly thinking about [it] race by race."
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