Sergio Pérez felt the performance during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the result was a big boost for everyone at the Racing Point F1 Team as they achieved their first two-car points finish of 2019.
Pérez qualified inside the top ten at the Baku City Circuit and finished an excellent sixth, while team-mate Lance Stroll made good gains on race day to climb into the points and finish ninth, giving the team ten points towards the Constructors’ Championship and moving them to within a point of the McLaren F1 Team, who currently sit fourth.
The Mexican feels it is important to carry that momentum from Azerbaijan into this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix as they aim to move further up the championship standings.
“The result in Baku was a big boost for us,” admitted Pérez. “We were competitive all weekend and we got both cars home in the points.
“We have now scored points in every race so far this year and we need to keep up this momentum.”
Pérez knows everyone knows the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya pretty well from all the testing that takes place there, so it is important to have a clean Friday in order to get as good a grid slot as possible on Saturday, knowing overtaking will be ‘extremely difficult’ on Sunday.
“I’m looking forward to racing in Barcelona,” said the Mexican. “The early-season fly-away races are exciting, but it is nice to be back in Europe getting ready for some of the more traditional races.
“Of course, Barcelona is a track where we’ve already done so much testing and I don’t think there are any more secrets to discover from the track. Even after two weeks of winter testing in Barcelona, finding the right set-up for the race weekend remains a challenge.
“The data you have from testing is not the most relevant and the temperatures will be very different. Completing a clean and tidy Friday is therefore really important to get the tyre data for the race.
“It’s also famous for being a track where overtaking is extremely difficult so you have to focus on really maximising qualifying.”