Lewis Hamil▨ton’s impressive speed in a straight line caught the atten🐠tion of many as the seven-time champion cut his way through the field to fifth in the Saturday sprint race.

Hamilton was in untouchable for🍎m, overtaking both Red Bulls en route to his fir𝓰st victory since Russia to get his title challenge back on track. 

With Mercedes’ straight-line advantage under great scrutiny by Red Bu⭕ll team boss Christian Horner, Perez was left amazed by its advantage on the straights at In꧋terlagos. 

“I mean, the straight-line speed was from another planet,” Perez said. “I looked at my mirror at the exit, and I felt very safe.&nbsꦰp;

“But then I look back into it aga🅘in and he’s right nex🔯t to me. It was really impressive.

“They’ve been really surprising. So we’ll 💫see what we are able to do going into Qatar. 

“I think it’s going to be a different track. Probably the straight-line speed is not so rele🧸vant over there so hopefully we can be a lot more competitive.”

Perez ꧒was on course for a fourth consecutive podium finish until a timely Virtual Safety Car allowed Bottas to jump back ahead.

The Mexican thinks without it, he would have finished third given that he and Bottas had similar race pꦫace.

“We just got very𝔉 unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car ti⛦ming which gave the podium to Bottas,” Perez added.

“So I think we had the podium, we had the position and I think it was going to be 🐠possible to 🐲hold him behind because we pretty much had the same pace, Valtteri and myself.”

The result in Interlagos mean🐬s Red Bull now trails Mercedes by 11 points in the constructors’ championship, while Perez is 25🍎 points off Bottas in the race for third.