Perez hopeful Force India's P3 pace is genuine

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Sergio Perez is hopeful Force India will be in the mix for a podium this weekend after finishing third fastest in FP2 for the Grand Prix of Europe.

Mercedes-powered cars performed well throughout Friday practice, securing the top five positions in the second session on the Baku City Circuit. Perez was third in the standings, 1.1s adrift of Lewis Hamilton but over 0.4s clear of Valtteri Bottas in fourth place, a result which has raised the Force India driver's hopes.

"I knew coming here that new places like this offer good opportunity before everyone gets used to it," Perez said. "This weekend can offer a strong possibility to achieve a great result."

Asked if the pace is genuine and a podium could be possible, Perez replied: "I want to believe so.

"The pace we are showing is quite realistic. Tomorrow, there is no room for mistakes. Let’s try to get the best out of qualifying."

While issuing a word of caution having beaten the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull, Perez says he is also enjoying the challenge of the new circuit.

"You don’t know what programmes others are doing. Our target is to score as many points as possible [on Sunday]. The car is feeling good, Nico [Hulkenberg] and myself are very strong so hopefully tomorrow we can put a strong lap together.

"I like this kind of track, that doesn’t allow any mistakes and if you do a mistake then you pay it. I don’t see any danger. If you do a mistake, you just run wide and lose a couple of seconds. I think tracks should be like this. I do not think they are more dangerous but they are more challenging for the driver."

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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.