Red Bull boss Christian Horner is certain Sergio Perez would have “smashed” the one-stoppers on a two-stop without the Safety
During the race, Perez dropped back to third behind Fernando Alonso on the opening lap, but he regained second place on Lap 5 and held it until his first pit stop on Lap 13. After a neutralization of the race allowed Norris and Leclerc to pit quickly, Perez fell to fourth after a double stack Red Bull pit stop. Despite overtaking Leclerc, he couldn’t catch Norris and finished five seconds behind the McLaren. Red Bull’s Christian Horner stated that Perez’s two-stop strategy would have likely outperformed Norris’ one-stop if not for the untimely safety car intervention. Horner believed that Perez could have overtaken Norris if not for the disrupted race strategy caused by the safety car period.
