(Motorsports news) Perez had a great start from fourth on the grid, drew between the two Ferraris in front of him, and launched himself into second place behind polesitter Verstappen.

But as he approached Turn 1, the Mexican driver applied the brakes too late, almost crashing into the back of Verstappen’s identical RB20 as they made their way through the tight right-hander.

After eventually running wide over the tarmac run-off area, Perez returned to the race in fifth position, behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and the Ferrari combo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Horner thinks the second-place finish was a poor escape. Perez had a chance early on thanks to Leclerc, but Red Bull nearly lost both of its cars in a brutal first lap incident.

“He had an upbeat beginning. Checo had to lift for Charles and then he had a window into the first corner, so I believe that contributed to Charles’s poor start,” Horner said.

He lunged in, clearly got stuck in deep, and counted himself lucky not to collect Max at the first turn or the Ferrari as it came back into the circuit.

“So I was pleased to see most cars survive that.”

At Turn 1, Verstappen reported that he observed Perez drawing near to him. However, a near-catastrophe was avoided when the Mexican narrowly avoided colliding with the triple champion’s vehicle before swerving into the curve.

“I knew exactly what I was doing. “I saw him lock up when I turned in,” he remarked. “When I checked my diffuser after the race, I noticed something like a scrape. Thus, something had to have struck.

“Well, that was really close. Of course, it might have turned out badly for the team as well. Thus, yes, fortunate.”

With little speed to launch a meaningful comeback, Perez managed only fifth at the checkered flag, moving up to fourth when Sainz received a post-race penalty for his collision with Piastri following the safety car restart.

After going dangerously near to Verstappen in a corner where there had previously been a race-ending collision between McLaren’s Lando Norris and the Aston Martin, Perez acknowledged that he had to take a delaying action.

“I had a good start, Charles had a really bad start, but as soon as I brake into the inside there was no grip, like with Lewis [Hamilton] yesterday [in the Sprint],” he said.

“And offline, I had no grip, so I had to lock.” I almost knocked Max out. Oscar gained a place and I had to release the brake.

“Aside from that, which was regrettable, I believe we struggled to maintain any momentum today. We simply weren’t able to get the pace we wanted, so we had to work on that to attempt to figure out what the problem was.

Also read: “Unbelievable” Red Bull 2024 car changes surprises Honda