Sergio Perez was pleased with his qualifying performance for the Italian Grand Prix and is looking to be in the mix with Williams in the race.
The Force India driver enjoyed having the edge over team-mate Nico Hulkenberg and put on another impressive qualifying showing, lining up seventh on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Perez felt delighted with his performance throughout the three qualifying segments and implied there was time left on the table after trying to gain a slipstream from Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in front.
“I am pretty happy with the job I did today in qualifying. I was able to improve my time in every session and each lap was pretty good.” the Mexican said.
“In Q3 I was a bit too optimistic and tried to get a tow from Kimi on the straight but it didn’t work: it actually cost me a couple of tenths but in any case it wouldn’t have been enough to be in front of the two Williams cars.”
Perez believes that Force India can take the fight to the Williams drivers, who occupy the third row, and sees tyre wear and the race start as important factors for how the race will unfold.
“The race will be hard, but our target should be to challenge Williams ahead of us.” he added.
“The b-spec car has been performing solidly in the past few races so I see no reason why we shouldn’t be in a position to have a good performance tomorrow.”
“A good start will be crucial as the strategy options are quite straightforward; one of the keys of the race will be tyre degradation, but I am confident we will be strong and score good points.”
