Perez lamented his tailend mistake which cost him the podium
The Imola qualifying round turned into a dream for Sergio Perez. The Red Bull driver drove his best ever race to finish in second place on Saturday.
Despite a turbulent Friday, one that saw him crash into Esteban Ocon in FP1 Perez end with his best-ever F1 qualifying result come Saturday. Beating his previous best starting position of third, Perez ended a scanty 0.035 seconds short of Lewis Hamilton’s lap time.
Perez Finishes In Second Place
And Sergio Perez was left ruing his inability to drive a better concluding lap. Despite his first ever first row finish, Perez believed he could have finished first had it not been for a final-corner mistake.
“I should have been on pole today,” Perez said.
“I did a mistake on my final corner, so I think it’s everything positive.
“We just have to make sure that we keep progressing, and tomorrow is what matters.”
“I have to say well done to the team,” Perez said. “Yesterday I made a mistake and I made them work hard during the day, so it’s a good recovery.
“But the most important is always showing progress. I never expected to be here today where we were yesterday. We’ve been improving, but it’s just important to be P2.”
“I didn’t expect to be here, it just shows how hard we have worked on our adaptation. But tomorrow is what counts. Great work from the whole team. Very happy with the progress we’ve made.”
Perez who will start tomorrow’s race on the soft compound tyres spoke about the kind of race he envisaged come Sunday.
“I think anything can happen tomorrow,” Perez said. “We are on a different strategy to Lewis and Max. And so, it’s gonna be interesting to see what we can do.
“Most important get those points, get battling, which is priority at the moment.”
