Perez makes Red Bull vow after Leclerc defeat

Sergio Perez has vowed to "come back stronger" after falling to defeat in his battle for second in this season's F1 drivers' standings.

The Mexican ended the year third overall after also finishing third behind runner-up Charles Leclerc and race-winning team-mate Max Verstappen in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The key moment saw Red Bull switch Perez to a two-stop strategy, while Ferrari left Leclerc to nurse his F1-75 through one stop, with the former missing out by 1.3secs.

Reacting to the outcome, Perez conceded: "It is how it is.

"Sometimes everything can be really close but at the end of the day, I've got to be happy.

"I gave it my all and as a team, we gave it our all through the season and I'm sure we will come back stronger for next year."

The result is still the best of Perez's career and comes off the back of fourth-placed finishes in each of the last two years.

Assessing his season, he added: "Certainly, we had great moments, great battling.

"I struggled a bit with these tyres a bit this year in terms of managing them in a race, so hopefully, that can be something we will improve for next year and generally, just be a bit stronger."

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