Sergio Perez has expressed his surprise at not being allowed to overtake teammate Max Verstappen during the Spanish Grand Prix in order to maximise his own tyre strategy. The Red Bull driver ended up in a surprise battle for the lead of the race, aided by errors from Verstappen and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz. The Mexican was eventually instructed not to fight Verstappen - who was recovering from an earlier off-track moment - in the closing stages of the race. Speaking after the race, Perez stated that he was pleased to secure his first podium at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, despite losing out on the win. "I'm extremely happy to be on the podium for the first time in the Spanish Grand Prix," Perez commented. "I think it was close [between me and Verstappen], but I think it's a great team result and I'm happy for that."
Perez expected permission to pass Verstappen
The Red Bull team elected to split Perez and Verstappen's strategies in order to pass the fast-starting Mercedes of George Russell. However, Perez was forced to sit behind Verstappen after his pit-stop and wait for his teammate to clear Russell. Perez was clearly displeased over the team radio, and added that he believed this was a big factor in not being able to compete for the win. "Yeah, we were on different tyre strategies at the time," added Perez. "I let Max by in the beginning and then I thought that I could go by [later in the race] and not lose crucial seconds to make my strategy work. But, it's a good team result."
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