Lewis Hamilton’s impressive ꦜspeed in a straight line caught the attention of many as the seven-tiﷺme champion cut his way through the field to fifth in the Saturday sprint race.

Hamilton was in untouchable form, overtaking both Red Bulls en route to his first victory sin🌜ce 💯Russia to get his title challenge back on track. 

With Mercedes’ straight-line advantage under great scrutiny by Red Bull team boss Chr🍌istian Horner, Perez was left amazed by its advantage on the straights at꧒ Interlagos. 

“I mean, the straight-line speed was from another planet,” Perez said. “I lo♛oked at my mirror at the exit, and I felt very safe. 

“But then I look back into it again and he’s right next to me. It w﷽as really impressive.

“They’ve been reaꦑlly 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 relevant over there so hopefully we can be a lot more competitive.”

Perez w𒊎as 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▨ pace.

“We just got very unlucky with the Virtual Safety C🎐ar timing which gave the podium to Bottas,” Perez added.

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

The result in Interlago🐼s means Red Bull now trails Mercedes by 11 points♛ in the constructors’ championship, while Perez is 25 points off Bottas in the race for third.