Perez rues costly Safety Car: We did everything we possibly could to win

Sergio Perez says he found it painful to only finish fourth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after taking pole position and leading the early laps of the race.

Red Bull driver Perez pulled ahead of Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc in the fight at the front before Williams' Nicholas Latifi crashed at the worst possible time for the Mexican, who had just pitted.

With the Safety Car deployed, Leclerc and Max Verstappen took advantage and were able to move ahead when they pitted for fresh rubber.

"The margin that we were looking for [from the start], we got it, and things were looking pretty good," explained Perez, talking to Sky Sports F1.

"Unfortunately, Latifi put it in the wall at the wrong time for me, but this is racing."

Perez loses out on crucial championship points

Perez now finds himself seventh in the Drivers' Championship after race two, 13 points behind teammate Verstappen.

After a reliability problem in Bahrain and plenty of misfortune in Jeddah, Perez has admitted he is hoping for some good luck soon.

"It will come around where it works for me, but it hurts," he commented.

"We did everything we possibly could to win this race from pole."