The Red Bull driver led the opening 14 laps of the Saudi Arabian GP but saw his race wrecked by a safety car period just one lap after his pitstop, when Nicholas Latifi crashed at the final corner.
The safety car period allowed his frontrunning rivals a cheap pitstop, initially pushing Perez back to third, before the Mexican was instructed to allow Carlos Sainz Jr to pass him at the safety car restart having been judged to have passed the Ferrari driver when he exited the pitlane.
