Sergio Perez hailed a "great recovery" by Racing Point in Sunday's Styrian Grand Prix in which the Mexican finished sixth after sparring for fourth with Red Bull's Alex Albon.
Perez was on a charge all afternoon after launching his race from a lowly P17 on the grid. A spirited driver coupled with the right strategy calls from the Racing Point pitwall brought Perez in contention for a spot among the top four.
Snapping at Albon's heels, the Racing Point charger made his move at Turn 4 with three laps to go but made contact with the back of the Red Bull and damaged his front wing.
The sudden loss of performance put Perez on the back foot in the closing stages of the 71-lap race and into the clutches of McLaren's Lando Norris and teammate Lance Stroll.
Perez was overhauled by the former by managed to salvage P6 on the line against Stroll.
"I think it was a great recovery, great pace from the car, the team did a fantastic strategy," the Mexican told Sky F1.
"We managed to recover, we went all the way to P5, nearly P4 in the end.
"I was pushing really hard on Albon, and I didn't have any opportunity other than the one that I took, and unfortunately I touched at the wrong angle.
"Basically I understeered a bit towards the exit, I opened up the steering wheel and picked up the power, and then I broke the whole front wing, I was very lucky just to lose one position from that."
Perez had no regrets about his botched attack on Albon.
"I had to give it a go, especially as we were pushing flat out with all what we had," he said.
"That was only the opportunity I was going to have, and unfortunately that didn't work, but in the end I'm lucky just to have lost one position."
Perez believes that Racing Point's RP20 has improved since last week's race at the red Bull Ring, in part thanks to the team gaining knowledge. But yesterday's under-performance in the wet camae as surprise.
"I think that was a big surprise, we were so competitive in the dry, and normally we should be a lot better," he said.
"I think we did a pretty good step from last weekend to this one. And obviously the car is pretty new in a lot of areas. We changed the concept totally.
"So we're learning from it. And there is good understanding from it and we are already looking forward massively to Hungary."
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