Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was left to rue a “painful” result at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, stating the team “handed” Daniel Ricciardo a podium result at Imola.
Perez, who had worked his way to the head of the midfield by extending his opening stint, was called in for fresh Soft tyres after Max Verstappen retired.
However Ricciardo, as well as Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon, stayed out on their Hard tyres to claim track position, and subsequently jumped Perez.
The Mexican was overtaken by Daniil Kvyat at the restart but managed to get past Albon and cross the line in sixth place.
“Looking at it, it didn’t make sense at the time,” Perez said of his pit-stop. “The call was very late, but it’s always easy to make the right decision after the race.
“Overtaking today was extremely difficult, but I haven’t spoken to the team yet so they might have some reasons on it.
“Just a painful day, we had the podium in the pocket. It’s hard to digest, they are as disappointed as I am right now.
“We are a team. We lose and also win together. In hindsight, it was the wrong call today. We basically gave the podium to Ricciardo.”
Despite missing out on the top-three result, Perez admits he’s pleased with his drive during the first stint to jump his rivals, who were held up by the Haas of Kevin Magnussen for a number of laps.
“It was a fantastic day, from all the negatives we can take a lot of positives, that first stint was tremendous,” Perez said.
“A great strategy, a great call for the team. We put ourselves in a position to get that podium, but it is a painful day, and also a painful day in the Championship.”
Racing Point is currently fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, tied with Renault on 134 points and sitting one point behind Renault in third.
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