Racing Point F1 Team driver Sergio Pérez admitted he’s on the ‘back foot’ ahead of the glamour and glitz of the Monaco Grand Prix.
The Mexican started out on the traditional Thursday sessions with a 1:14:566 but finished sixteenth in Free Practice 1.
Despite improving his time in Free Practice 2 to a 1:12:752, Pérez still found himself in a lowly fifteenth position.
Even more troubling for the Racing Point team is that Pérez was a whole 1.6 seconds off Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kyvat.
And Pérez seemed frustrated after the Thursday sessions and said: “We completed lots of laps today, but I haven’t found the Monaco rhythm just yet and I think that shows in our performance today.
“We need to find a good step if we want to be in the fight for Q3 so there’s a big night ahead of us and we need to make good use of the extra day tomorrow.”
Although Pérez wasn’t overly impressed with his car’s performance on Thursday, he seemed grateful for the extra day Monaco grants the teams.
With Friday being an ‘off’ day on the city circuit, Pérez seemed pleased that the team had an extra day to try and improve the car and, therefore, help him challenge in qualifying on Saturday.
After finishing fifteenth at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya two weeks ago, Pérez will be looking to improve his finishing position around the narrow streets of Monaco.
“The car doesn’t feel too bad – the balance is okay, but we are still on the back foot,” added Pérez. “With some fine-tuning we can definitely make things better.
“Understanding the data and making good decisions is a real strength of this team so I’m confident we can be in a better position by Saturday afternoon”
