Perez: I ended up losing but it’s fine

Perez and Alonso had an epic battle during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the former chasing for third place, the latter delivering the perfect lesson on how to defend in an inferior Formula 1 car.

Lap after lap, Perez tried to overtake Alonso who refused to stand down, and while the #11 RB19 finally found a way through one lap to the end, that did not last for long, as the #14 AMR23 soon found a way to retake the position on the final lap and stayed there, finishing ahead by 0.053s.

"It was quite an intense battle," Perez reflected on the battle on Sky Sports F1. "We tried everything. Unfortunately we didn’t succeed on that, but it was well deserved for Fernando.

"I think we had a great fight, very fair and to the limit. I think this is something that a lot of drivers can learn from because what we did, the way we fought today, it’s how it should be done.

"I’m in the wrong side, I ended up losing but it’s fine because it was a great fight," the Mexican added, being philosophical.

However he remained optimistic that the results will come his way, insisting his form has improved, and indeed it was evident that there was a positive development in his performance in Sao Paulo.

"We’ve seen in the last couple of races that the pace has been there, that we’ve been really strong, and for some reason or another we haven’t been able to get the final end result, but I just know that it’s a matter of time," Perez maintained.

Later in the Red Bull's team report, Perez added: "Let's start from the beginning, it took me a while to get through the Mercedes and that damaged my race, after that we were always a bit on the back foot with Fernando.

"We were chipping away at him and towards the end we came really close to the podium. I have to say well done to Fernando because it was a great fight and really fair racing. Between us, whoever got the podium, it was well deserved, and he got it.

"I had the opportunity and went for it but he was really fast on the straights and I don't think I could have done anything differently in the final few laps," he concluded.