Perez hit 'main objective' with Baku Sprint win after huge 'pressure'

Sergio Perez says he delivered on his "main objective" in the Formula 1 Sprint race in Azerbaijan, after taking the victory in Baku.

Starting second, Perez held position at the start before the Safety Car was deployed early on for Yuki Tsunoda's wall-strike.

On the restart, Perez ran second behind leader Charles Leclerc before breezing past with the assist of the DRS to take a first sprint race victory of his career - and take two points out of title rival Max Verstappen with the lead, now down to 12 points.

And Perez says that given the new format of just one practice session, two qualifying and then the sprint, it has put the engineers under a lot of pressure.

Perez explains Sprint win

"It was good, with this tricky sessions, there's been a lot of pressure on us, the teams, engineers, mechanics and drivers," Perez explained.

"To get away with maximum points was the main objective, but obviously we know that tomorrow is the main race.

"We were able to learn a bit [for the Grand Prix], but obviously tomorrow we're going to have much higher fuel loads.

"Track conditions are going to be different, but I think it was good learning today. P3 is not ideal for the race, but I will give it a go and fight for the win."