Quote Originally Posted by denkimi View Post
I find that hard to believe just looking at the laptimes. At lap 12, when verstappen went for his first pitstop, perez was already 4 seconds down. Almost 9 to hamilton.

That doesn't look like a lighter car to me.
Perhaps a lighter car that was conserving tyres? The fact he was able to hold up Hamilton on fresh hard tyres that were working very nicely, on pretty ancient softs, for over a lap, makes me wonder if maybe he had been keeping something back. Perez has a reputation for being very, very good at prolonging tyre life...