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Perez lost the sprint race already at the start: 'Then it gets tricky'
Sergio Perez started third and also finished the sprint race in P3. The Mexican was battling Daniel Ricciardo at the beginning of the race, and because of that, a gap was formed to the cars ahead of him. The Mexican reacts after the race.
"It was really hard to get through Daniel in the beginning, and once I got through, I got through it quite quickly, but I was three seconds from Charles and given the short duration of the race, it was pretty tricky. I was like getting within two seconds, 1.8, but then it was quite hard to get a little bit closer.," Perez said immediately after the race in Miami.
Perez explains where things went wrong
At the post-race press conference, Perez was able to elaborate a little more on the start, where he tried to overtake Leclerc but ended up losing a place to Ricciardo: "I lost a place to Daniel at the start, basically trying to get Charles, but I think we all broke really late, and I just went deep into turn one. I ended up locking, so I lost the position to Daniel, nearly lost another position to Carlos [Sainz]."
"the race was just a little bit too short [to attack Leclerc]. In this sprint race, as if you have the safety car, then it's really hard to really do anything else." Perez concluded. Later today, Perez will get a second chance during qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix. The Grand Prix will follow on Sunday.