Sergio Perez was relieved to claim a place on the front row of the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix, admitting he’s struggled in recent races.
While his team mate Max Verstappen has won the last five rounds in a row, Perez has managed only a single podium finish during the same time.
His Singapore Grand Prix weekend did not get off to a promising start as he was over a second off the pace on Friday. But in challenging conditions on a rapidly-drying track he took advantage of Verstappen’s troubles in qualifying to take second on the grid, and was only two-hundredths of a second away from beating Charles Leclerc to pole position.
“Certainly it’s nice to be back on the pace,” said Perez. “It’s been a bit of a struggle, the last few races, so I’m pleased.
“Especially after the day we had yesterday, where it looked like another poor start with no information, we basically had a really poor Friday. So I’m pleased that that we’re back to where we belong.”
However he admitted he had definitely missed an opportunity to take pole position. “In such a long lap [when] you are two hundredths away from pole, you definitely lost in a few areas.
“But conditions were super-tricky today. I had a big moment into turn 13. We’ve been struggling a lot with the driveability and I had a massive moment under braking. I’m happy just to complete the lap because I lost quite a bit of lap time, but at the same time, I could have lost more.
“So it’s a bit disappointing to be so close to pole. But on the other hand, it’s a good result and I think we are in a good position to fight from there.”
“It’s never nice to be so close to pole,” Perez added. “It always brings you back to your lap and especially in such a long lap, you know that you could have done better here or there. But I guess it’s the same for everyone with these tricky conditions.
“I think we all put in a tremendous effort to put the laps with it and, at the end of the day, Charles did a better job than us today and his team. I think starting P2 we still can fight for the race.”
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2022 Singapore Grand Prix
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