Perez pleased with best-possible sixth in qualifying

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Force India's Sergio Perez said he was pleased to pick up sixth place in today's qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

“I am very pleased with today’s result," said the Mexican. "I managed a good lap in difficult conditions to be sixth. The maximum we could hope for today.

"The Renaults were pushing really hard. [Fernando] Alonso too with his McLaren," he told Sky Sports F1 after the end of the session.

"The margins were so close around this track. A tenth or a tenth and a half with the margin you have in Q2 means you're out."

Perez ended up on the right side of that margin and made it through to the final round. Unfortunately his team mate Esteban Ocon just missed out and ended qualifying down in 11th.

"It was a good fight to get into Q3 because our rivals were pushing us really hard," Perez said. "The gaps were really close.

"There was some rain falling and we managed to do a really good lap in those conditions and it meant a great qualifying for us."

The rain also affected the final round of qualifying, although at first it didn't make much impact as far as Perez was concerned.

"On the first run of Q3 not really," he said. "But on the second one I lost a tenth and a half or so in the last corner, so I put that down to the rain."

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The unpredictable weather could yet prove to be a factor for the race.

"It was really hot yesterday and it's something we're expecting for tomorrow," said Perez. "Hopefully we can have some rain that can create some opportunities.

"You never know in Brazil - [it] could help us have a nice battle at the front.

"Managing the tyres and being on the right strategy will be especially important," he suggested. "We want to be able especially if it's really hot to be be able to manage our race.

"All in all I believe that we're in a good position," he said. "Especially given how difficult the last couple of weekends have been for me in qualifying.

"I have to say ‘thank you’ to the team," he added. "We went through everything to understand how the latest upgrades on the car work because I seemed to struggle a bit in qualifying at the last few races.

"The engineers have worked so hard and today’s result proves our pace. I am pleased to be back on form, and I am looking forward to the race."

Both Perez and Ocon have already gained one place on their qualifying position, thanks to a grid penalty for Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. Perez will line up in fifth alongside Alonso, with Ocon starting from tenth.

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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.