Sergio Perez had a fine comeback to Formula 1 at Interlagos, with good results all weekend. Perez got 3rd in the sprint race behind Lando Norris and a stellar 4th place in the Grand Prix. The Mexican fought with Fernando Alonso for the last podium position throughout the action-packed race, as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris occupied the top two.

 At the chequered flag, Perez missed out on 3rd by only 53 hundredths of a second. The Red Bull driver had been fighting to overtake Alonso for much of the race and managed to do so on the penultimate lap. However, Alonso managed to stay right behind Perez and, on the 71st and final lap, blasted past him on the long straight after Turn 3. Helmut Marko, Red Bull advisor, praised Perez for his performance but pointed out the mistake Perez made that lost him 3rd. 

The mistake was that he didn't get out of Turn 3 well, and then he made a little move on the home straight heading into Turn 1. 

Helmut Marko said, as reported by soymotor.com

Perez earned valuable points to fend off Lewis Hamilton, who is challenging for P2 in the Championship, and squashed rumors of his replacement by Daniel Ricciardo should he lose the place. Perez arrived in Brazil from a crushing weekend in Mexico, where he spun out and regained the performance he had been missing for much of 2023.

Sergio Perez says the duel with Fernando Alonso was a ‘great fight’

2x World Champion Fernando Alonso emerged ahead of Sergio Perez in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after a spectacular overtake on the last lap. The Spaniard was overtaken by Perez on the previous lap but managed to take advantage of DRS and a small mistake by Perez to reclaim the place. 

Perez hailed Alonso for the fair fight, saying the battle between the two was very fair racing. The 6-time Grand Prix winner barely missed out on standing on the podium, losing a drag race to Alonso to the chequered flag. Perez emphasized that Alonso was one of the only drivers to fight fairly for a place, leaving room for good racing.

I have to say well done to Fernando, because it was great fight. Very fair racing. Pérez said on Sunday evening. And that's really good, because how hard we race each other with always a lot of room, I think with very few drivers you can do this on the grid.

Fernando Alonso said, as reported by espn.in

Perez said whoever stood on the podium deserved to be there after the tight battle between the two. Alonso mentioned post-race that he did not think he had kept the place, as the two were extremely close at the finish line. Alonso stood on the podium for the 8th time this season in his first year with Aston Martin, while Sergio Perez remains with only six top-three finishes in 2023.

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