After scoring his fifth podium in Formula One and Force India’s third, Sergio Perez hailed his third-place finish in today’s Russian Grand Prix as a “very special result”.
The Mexican started today’s race in seventh place but soon moved up to sixth after teammate Nico Hulkenberg spun out of the race at the frist corner.
After Romain Grosjean crashed his Lotus resulting in Safety Car being deployed. The 25-year-old took a planned risk to pit among others such as Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz.
“The call to pit under the safety car turned out to be very good because it gave us track position ahead of all the battles.”
Perez was the leading driver on fresh tyres and assumed a net second place when the rest of the field pitted for fresh tyres.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel easily made it past Perez, but Bottas and Raikkonen in fifth and sixth respectively failed to make significant gains on Perez until they eventually made it past Daniel Ricciardo.
“With one lap to go, when Valtteri (Bottas) and Kimi (Raikkonen) passed me, it felt like this result had been taken from us: I was obviously disappointed but I also knew I had given all I could during the race.”
However, on the final lap of the race Raikkonen and Bottas collided gifting Perez his 3rd place back.
“When I finally managed to get back into third it was just an amazing feeling. I am happy I was able to share this second podium with my team.”
Thanks to a fifth career podium, Sergio Perez now re-takes ninth place in the drivers standings. With four rounds to go, he will be looking to cement ninth in the drivers and fifth in the constructors.
”It’s a very special result and one that fills me with expectation ahead of the races in Austin and especially Mexico City.”
