Sergio Perez has described the Belgian Grand Prix as ‘a great day for the team’ after the Mexican finished fifth albeit a place behind teammate Nico Hulkenberg who took fourth.
Speaking after the race, Perez believes the start was where he lost his chance of an even better result after he was forced wide at La Source, losing a number of places.
“It’s been a great day for the team and I am very pleased to finish fifth, but it was quite a tough race from the start.
“I chose a wide line going into Turn 1, but had to go far on the outside to avoid the first corner accident and that cost me a few positions. I dropped down to ninth and that compromised my race.”
The Force India man felt that he was making good progress throughout the race but admitted he couldn’t drive how he wanted after each tyre change, due to the strain of pursuing Massa and Alonso.
“I managed to make some good progress early on, but every time I switched to new tyres I found myself having to put a lot of stress on them as I needed to attack Felipe [Massa] then Fernando [Alonso].”
Perez finally hailed Force India moving up to fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship as a ‘fantastic achievement’ but says they will now look to push on to have more finishes as good as this one.
“We can’t get carried away because there’s still a very long way to go in the season. Hopefully, we can keep our momentum going and keep scoring strongly.”
Perez currently sits eighth in the Drivers Championship and will hope for another strong result at the Italian Grand Prix, a race he scored a podium at in 2012.
