Sergio Perez was left displeased to miss out on a Red Bull 1-2 finish at the Chinese Grand Prix after crossing the line in third place.
Perez took the start from second on the grid but dropped back to third on the opening lap after being overtaken by Fernando Alonso.
The Mexican driver recovered to the runner-up spot a handful of laps later but a Safety Car intervention later in the race caused him to slump down to fourth place after making a pit stop, behind Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc who were attempting one-stop strategies.
Although Perez managed to get ahead of Leclerc, he couldn't make in-roads on Norris to deliver Red Bull its fourth 1-2 finish in five races.
“Unfortunately, we got the safety car and we lost two places,” Perez stated. “We did most of the race on the Hard [tyre].
“Once you start fighting like that in the early laps, then you lose the life of the tyre, it just goes off dramatically.
“At least we managed to get onto the podium again, but it would have been good to be one and two [in the order].”
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Perez understands issues
Perez lacked substantial pace compared to team-mate Verstappen throughout the race with the Dutchman cruising to his 58th career win.
However, he declared the team already understands why his pace was lacking throughout the grand prix.
“I think we were definitely lacking some pace, especially on the Medium compound.
“We struggled quite a bit with the balance, we changed a lot from [Saturday] to [Sunday].
“We didn't read the conditions as perfectly as we could. But overall, I think it was a strong weekend and we understand the reasons why.
“The race pace was a little bit down.”
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