Perez has to be satisfied with seventh in home GP

Sergio Perez sounded reasonably happy with his day's work, following his home Grand Prix event in Mexico on Sunday.

He'd been disappointed with his performance in qualifying which meant he started from ninth place on the grid at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. On a circuit where overtaking is never easy, he was satisfied to have gained two positions during the race.

"Considering the poor qualifying we had yesterday, I think we managed to do a really good race," said the Force India driver. "We came back stronger today and managed to have a really good race, with competitive pace."

Perez had a solid start, moving up to three places on the first lap thanks to cars ahead colliding and being forced to pit. He ran as high as fifth before making his first pit stop on lap 18.

Unfortunately for Perez, the virtual safety car on lap 30 allowed other drivers to save time on their own pit stops. As a result he ended up losing a spot to Lance Stroll in the Williams.

"It's just a shame, a great shame that the virtual safety car came at the wrong moment and that gave the position to Stroll," he said. "Otherwise I think we could have finished sixth.

"We lost a bit then, but that's how racing is."

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Perez was unable to prevent Sebastian Vettel passing him on fresher ultrasoft tyres. He made a second stop to take on a set of his own with 20 laps remaining, but the field was by then too spread out for the gamble to pay off.

Even so, in one respect at least it was mission accomplished this weekend. Along with Esteban Ocon's fifth place, Perez' points contribution has helped Force India clinch fourth place in the constructors championship.

"The main objective of the weekend was to confirm fourth place in the championship," he said. "I’m extremely happy that we have done this with two races to spare."

While it hadn't quite worked out on the day for Perez, he said his home race as a whole had been full of special memories.

"It’s been another special weekend," he said. "So much support from the fans. I have to say a huge thank you to all of them for the energy they have given me."

And Perez added his congratulations to the newly crowed 2017 world champion, Lewis Hamilton.

"Lewis is a legend," he said. "A great ambassador for the sport. I think he's a great driver.

"I'm very happy for him because he deserves all the success."

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