Sergio Perez carried his good form from Spa-Francorchamps two weeks ago into the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza with a strong drive to sixth place on Sunday.
The Sahara Force India driver felt he had strong pace throughout the race in Italy, and was able to manage his tyres well, but knew it was only a matter of time before he was passed by the recovering Kimi Raikkonen, following the Finn’s lacklustre start.
“I had a really enjoyable time today,” insisted Perez. “I had very strong pace from the beginning to the end; I managed the tyre degradation well and I feel we got the maximum that was possible from the race.
“The first stint was fairly calm: I found myself in clean air and I managed to open a gap over the cars behind so I wasn’t under any pressure.
“After my pit stop, I knew Kimi was closing in behind me: he was really quick and there was nothing I could do to keep him behind any longer than I did.”
Perez was happy with the performance of the VJM08 throughout the weekend at Monza, and was even happier to see the team jump back into fifth place in the championship, two weeks after seeing Lotus move ahead of them.
“I am very pleased with our performance over the whole weekend and the team really deserves these points,” said Perez.
“Today’s result is important because it moves us back to fifth in the championship with a nice gap over our rivals. We did a good job and we deserve this result.”
