After winning his first Red Bull victory at the Azerbaijani GP, Checo Perez was understandably delighted as he pushed Mercedes away Lewis hamilton after a late restart.

Max Verstappen was comfortably in the lead with five laps to go before a tire failure caused him to retire and a red flag. On restart Hamilton seemed to have the upper hand over Perez but did not make turn 1 for the Mexican to secure the victory.

“I am so, so happy for today” Perez said after the race. “You know the race, normally Baku is pretty crazy. First of all, I have to say I’m really sorry for Max because he had a great race. He really deserved the win.

“It would have been amazing to get that one-two for the team, but in the end it was a fantastic day for us. We were about to give up the car, but luckily we managed to finish the race. difficult until the end.

“Lewis had a steady pace throughout the race. We also had a slow stop, the overcut got a little closer to him. He pushed me from that lap.

“I had some pressure from him at the start. I got off to a bad start so he was on my side. I braked as late as I could and he did the same, but it didn’t work. for him.

“It gives confidence to the team, and to me, for the next race.”