“The Red Bull double was achievable in Florida according to Pérez”
After the race, Sergio Pérez indicated that he thinks he missed the opportunity to secure another double for Red Bull in Miami.
In Miami, Red Bull seemed more comfortable than Ferrari. One thing is certain, its top speed prevented any real attack from the Scuderia, as demonstrated by Charles Leclerc being unable to pass Max Verstappen for many laps. Therefore, an Austrian one-two in Florida would not have been impossible.
But that was without counting on another reliability issue with a Red Bull Powertrains engine, which dropped Sergio Pérez, who was closely following Carlos Sainz for third place, to nearly 9 seconds behind the Spaniard.
I think we lost another double today, to be honest. I think we had a great pace with the car, I was pushing behind Carlos [Sainz], taking care of my tires during the first stint, and then this unfortunate engine problem. It’s very unfortunate.
After the safety car, Pérez attempted to attack Sainz at the first corner of lap 52. An attempt that came close to contact between the two men, and that the Mexican considers insufficient even though he had passed the Ferrari at that moment. « I had a small opportunity on Carlos and I went for it. I knew it would be very dirty [note: the track was dusty off the racing line]. I think that even if I had passed him, he would have overtaken me again, because I was just too slow on the straights. »
A disappointing 4th place, but the Red Bull driver still tries to put things into perspective after the problem he encountered: It’s very frustrating that this kind of thing keeps happening, but on the other hand, I mean, on a bad day I manage to finish 4th, which is good. We are working very hard on reliability and we will continue to push as a team. It’s unfortunate, but I am glad that we managed to finish today. In Barcelona, I want to come back and fight at the top.
