Perez battles to 'great' fifth to boost Force India

Sergio Perez overcame early setbacks in Spa to finish in fifth place just behind his team mate Nico Hulkenberg, a result that puts Force India in fourth place in the constructors championship ahead of main rivals Williams.

"We need to not get too carried away, because there is still a long way to go in the season, but it's a great result for the team especially for myself given how tricky it was in the race after lap 1," Perez told Sky Sports F1 after the race.

"I really hope we can keep doing it for the rest of the season. It would be great to get fourth place but to be honest I'm not getting carried away because there are still many races to go. We have to keep pushing very hard and if we can get this fourth place at the end of the year it would be fantastic."

Perez lost ground as a result of the mêlée at La Source at the start of the race, and was pleased by how he was able to race his way back through the field.

"After both Ferraris crashed in turn 1, I had to go around and take the long way so I lost a lot of positions, but I managed to recover and bring home a lot of points for the team."

Working his way back up the order was thanks to some inspired racing, including some gritty overtaking moves on Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa in Les Combes.

The move on Massa resulted in the Williams running wide off the track, and Perez' rear wheel made a definite impression on Massa's sidepod, but fortunately the stewards weren't called upon to imposed any penalties for contact.

"I think those incidents are fair you know. Sometimes we see a bit inconsistency in penalties throughout the year. Maybe if this happens next race we might get a penalty, you know, but it's something that is with Formula One.

"Obviously with Felipe, Felipe is a very experienced driver so you can really race hard with him, he explained. "I saw I had more faith than him on the outside I go for it because I spent a lot of the race behind him compromising my strategy, my tyres, so when I saw the opportunity I definitely went for it.

"It's not like I try to push him off, I'm just fighting so hard. You can see with the move on Fernando as well, when I overtook him I nearly go off the track as well because you're on the limit with very old tyres, it's not easy to keep the car on track."

Perez current run of success is boosting Force India, but will it be enough to make him to decide to stay with the team for another season? The Mexican driver couldn't say, but suggested that he wanted the situation dealt with sooner rather than later.

"I hope soon, I really hope before we go to Asia."

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