Sahara Force India driver Sergio Perez was happy to end a difficult weekend at the Circuit of the Americas with another top five finish.
The Mexican driver secured fifth position in the United States despite struggling with tyre temperatures, especially at the restarts after the safety car periods, and felt he could have beaten Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen to fourth had he had a few more laps.
“We are happy to come away with fifth place and ten points from a weekend with such difficult weather conditions,” reflected Perez. “The track was very damp to begin with and I was lacking pace on the intermediates – sliding around with a lot of degradation.
“Then, when we switched to the softs and eventually the mediums, it was not easy to get the temperature in the tyres and I struggled for grip with each restart.
“There was so much happening in the race and you really had to concentrate because it was very easy to make a mistake. In the final few laps I was getting close to Max [Verstappen] who was struggling on the soft tyres, but there was not enough time to catch him.”
Perez feels the team have a lot of momentum at present, with top seven results in the past six races, and now looking to continue this form in his home race in Mexico.
“Overall I’m very happy for the team because we’ve done a really good job this weekend,” said Perez. “The recent results give us real momentum as we head to my home race in Mexico, where I’m determined to give my fans something more to celebrate.”
