Sergio Perez made an impressive climb, securing the final podium position from Oscar Piastri on lap 52 out of 70.
The Mexican driver embarked on a lengthy opening stint that spanned an impressive 23 laps after starting on hard tyres.
As the race neared its conclusion, Perez showcased his tenacity by closing in on the second-placed Lando Norris. However, encountering backmarkers hindered his progress, causing him to settle for a respectable third-place finish by the end of the race.
“We got close to P2,” said Perez. “Unfortunately we had to go through a lot of backmarkers.”
“The track was unbelievably dirty off-line, so in the last laps I got some pick-up going through the backmarkers and that meant that I lost a few seconds.
“Then I recovered towards the end, but it was too late. But overall I think it was a great strategy by the team and we managed to have an excellent result.”
“I think this sort of performance, these sorts of days, do help,” he said. “And from now on, I just look forward to basically being on the podium every single weekend. So let’s keep it up.”
In the later laps, the Red Bull driver engaged in a fierce battle with Piastri, resulting in the McLaren driver running off the track at the exit of turn two.
The stewards carefully observed the incident but determined that no further investigation was required.
“We were on very similar age tyres,” Perez explained.
“Basically we pitted on the same lap, so we were on fresh tyres. I went for it around the outside, we touched into turn one and into turn two we touched again. So it was a little bit close, but hard racing all the same.”
