Sergio Perez reveals 'worst feeling' after first Valtteri Bottas flare-up

Sergio Perez has revealed to suffering "the worst feeling" following his first incident with Cadillac team-mate Valtteri Bottas during the Chinese Grand Prix.

In their second race together as the new F1 team's driver line-up, Perez tried a move on Bottas on the inside as they emerged out of the Turn 2 loop into Turn 3, only to make contact and compromise both of their races.

The Mexican driver took full responsibility. Speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Perez said: "That was all on me.

"I saw the gap, I went for it, but obviously, looking at it, Valtteri had nowhere to go. Unfortunately, it ended up costing me the race because I spun, and I lost a lot of time.

"Luckily, I managed to come back to the field. On the second stint, I was about to overtake Valtteri with the overtake mode on, and I lost the engine and the battery, so I lost like five seconds. Then later on, I lost another 15 or 20 seconds.

"In general, the positive thing is that we finished with both cars. The negative is that we have a lot of training to do in a lot of areas to make sure that we don't lose track position, and we arrive at the races a lot more prepared."

Explaining what goes through a driver's mind in such an incident, and with that not being his first with a team-mate, Perez added: "It's the worst feeling you can have, for myself, for the team.

"Luckily, nothing really happened. The incident was just a misjudgment from my side."

Given the experience of the duo, there were no hard feelings on either side, and no points lost, with Bottas finishing 13th due to the litany of retirements, and Perez 15th and last.

Perez said: "It's how it should be. There are no bad intentions between team-mates. When you look at the incident, it's important to apologise and realise that you messed up, and that's how it is.

"Sometimes you make mistakes, and unfortunately, it was with Valtteri, but I'm happy he finished the race."