Sergio Perez was unhappy with Red Bull for putting him on a double pitstop at the Qatar GP.
Perez’s Sunday began horribly due to his qualifying finish. However, he put in an exceptional performance, going from P11 to the podium places during the course of the race.
At the time, he had already pitted once, and the team was debating whether to let him run or call him in again. They went with the latter option having seen other drivers suffer punctures.
However, that meant the Red Bull dropped a place into fourth by the end of the race. Perez was left unhappy with Red Bull for putting him on a double pitstop strategy in Qatar.
“We were actually changing throughout the race,” he told Sky Sports, as quoted by Racingnews365.com.
“At some point we were going for one-stop, then two, then one. I think it wasn’t very clear either for us. I think it was understandable from a pit wall point of view that we had to play it safe there.
“I think we had the podium pretty much in the pocket. I think the Virtual Safety Car… I don’t know if that would have been enough to prevent us from getting Fernando (Alonso) at the end, but it’s a bit of a shame.
“We managed to minimise a bit the damage, but I think we should have been on the podium,” he concluded.
Defensive call
Perez rejoined the race in P7 after his second pitstop. He was not happy with the situation, and made his feelings clear on the team radio.
The situation allowed Alpine driver Fernando Alonso to hold on to his P3. Towards the end of the race, Perez was charging at him, and finished his race less than three seconds behind the Spaniard.
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