And judging from the situation on track right now, the current pattern isn't going to change much in the short term.
Fortunately, this state didn't last too long.
Hamilton's defensive skills are considered top tier in the paddock. During the whole time Perez was attacking him, he never once lost position or gave up the inside line. Hamilton kept defending against Perez all the way to lap 5.
But after following behind Hamilton for such a long time, plus the slightly high track temperature today, Perez's tyres inevitably started to overheat.
On one hand it was because Perez was too close to Hamilton in front, so the air intakes were only gulping the hot exhaust gases from Hamilton's engine. At the same time, on the straights Perez's tyres couldn't get any cool air either, because he needed to sit in Hamilton's slipstream. The air on track couldn't hit the car — behind Hamilton there was a vacuum zone that sucked all the air away.
