Perez party atmosphere unjustified: 'He's not taking points from Hamilton'

According to Jolyon Palmer, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas did not give their best performance in the battle for the world title. The party was big at Red Bull Racing and Perez, but the result could have been better according to Palmer.

The title fight in 2021 will be between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, but Bottas and Perez could play an important role in the outcome of that battle. If Perez can take points away from Hamilton, Verstappen will benefit and Bottas could do the same for Hamilton.

Perez falls short

''I’ve said before that the role of the second drivers will be crucial in the season run-in, but with Verstappen and Hamilton once again finishing 1-2, for all the passion, excitement and jubilation of Perez’s home podium, he didn’t really deliver enough for Red Bull in a race where they had the dominant car. He couldn’t take any points away from Hamilton,'' Palmer says in his column for Formula1.com.

Bottas was no ideal help to Hamilton either. He took the fastest lap from Verstappen, but he opened the door for the Dutchman on the first lap.

Bottas opens the door

''Verstappen never should have been able to out-brake Bottas around the outside at Turn 1, but he did so with ease as the Finn was extremely cautious on the brakes. It’s likely Bottas was concerned about compromising his teammate on the inside there as they ran three-wide, but holding off Verstappen at the start had to be the primary objective in any pre-race briefing at Mercedes, and by backing off early he gifted the lead to the Dutchman who went on to dominate.''

''Bottas had to be trying to match the brake point of Verstappen, even if meant risking using the grass run-off on the exit, as Hamilton did back in 2016,'' the former Formula One driver concludes.