Sergio Perez believes he was on course to snatch a podium finish in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, but a late Virtual Safety Car thwarted his charge.
As a result of Red Bull's qualifying woes, Perez launched his race from P11 but latched on to the back of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen at the start to join the Dutchman in his efforts to carve through the field.
Taking advantage of their soft tyres in their first stint, the two bulls were successful in gaining ground, hauling themselves into the top six by the races mid-way point.
While Verstappen pressed on and won the race, Perez had hoped to join the reigning world champion on the podium. And he was just a handful of seconds adrift from rivals George Russell and Carlos Sainz who finished just ahead of him in third and fourth place.
"I think in the middle of the race, we were looking good, we were thinking to go for the one-stop, so therefore I think we didn’t quite maximise that stint and unfortunately, that didn’t work out as good as we would have liked, and then at the end, I just lost out by a couple of seconds on Carlos and George," he said.
"We were much faster, together with Charles [Leclerc], from behind but unfortunately there was a Virtual Safety Car for a bit too long and that just hurt us a bit."
Perez's performance in Hungary was in contrast better than his most recent outings. And Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was delighted with his driver's spirited drive at the Hungaroring.
"Look at Checo’s race in the second half today," Horner said. "Without that VSC, he would’ve been challenging for the podium in the closing stages of both George and Carlos. He was coming very, very quickly.
"I think a reset over the summer break, just to understand what’s not gone quite right for him at the last couple of races [is needed], he’ll come stronger from Spa onwards."
Perez is also determined to hit the ground running when the action resumes at Spa at the end of the month.
"I certainly believe that we’ve lost a bit our track in the last couple of races, so it will be very important to come back strong for the triple header," he said.
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