Sergio Perez saw his opportunity to make it through to the final phase of Canadian Grand Prix qualifying denied to him by a late quick lap from his Sahara Force India team-mate Nico Hülkenberg.
Perez was holding tenth in the closing moments of Q2 before his team-mate set his time, but the Mexican knew it was going to be difficult to make it through into the top ten shoot-out after using more tyres than they had hoped to just to get through Q1.
Despite the disappointment of his eleventh place grid slot, Perez feels positive that they can move forward and secure a good points finish on race day on Sunday.
“I knew reaching Q3 was going to be difficult because we had to use more tyres than we would have wanted in Q1,” said Perez. “It meant we only really had one set of ultrasofts available in Q2 to get the job done.
“In any case, I gave it all I could and the end result was P11, which is not a bad place to start the race. In Montreal, you can expect the unexpected, especially with the weather being in the balance, so there’s everything to play for tomorrow.
“I think we’re looking good in racing conditions with solid pace so we can definitely fight for some good points.”
