Perez seeking a return to the podium at Monaco

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One year ago, Force India driver Sergio Perez was celebrating on the podium having finished in third place in the Monaco Grand Prix.

This weekend he hopes to repeat that success - or go even better, if he's presented with the same opportunities he's already taken advantage of in 2017.

It's entirely possible. Perez was on hand to pick up fourth place in Spain after two rivals collided at the start, and a third retired mid-race with a power unit failure.

"When I was a child, I dreamed about driving on the famous streets," said the Mexican driver. "I still feel excited every year I race there.

"To finish on the podium last year shows that anything is possible.

"It’s such a unique race; a big highlight of the year," he continued. "When you think of Formula One, you think of Monaco. It’s the most important race and the one we all want to win."

Perez explained that it was not just the history, the glitz and the glamour that makes Monaco such a special race every year.

Perez targets Red Bull after taking fourth in Barcelona

"Monaco is my favourite track because it’s the biggest challenge," he said. "The contribution of the driver is greater compared to other tracks.

"There is no room for mistakes and you need to take small risks to find extra performance," he added.

"It’s a test of concentration for almost two hours, which is why it’s such a difficult race.

“The best parts of the lap are the quick sections. The swimming pool is impressive because we carry so much speed and you have to be very precise on the kerbs.

"Casino is also very quick and with these cars will be quite a challenge.

"There’s no room for error so you need to be careful that the car doesn’t step out of line through these parts of the lap."
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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.