SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team struggled at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix at Autodrómo José Carlos Pace, however, they came home with two points as Sergio Pérez finished in eighth place, as the safety car mixed things up. But his teammate Lance Stroll had to retire and was classified in nineteenth after a charge through the field.
Pérez explained how he felt regarding the race at Interlagos, suggesting it was slightly crazy, especially as the safety car came out. However, the Mexican expressed his disappointment as he felt that he struggled as the RP19 was not the best around the circuit and particularly on the straights and this led to himself losing places in the race.
“It was a very chaotic race – especially the final ten laps when the Safety Car brought all the cars together again. Unfortunately it was difficult for us to really fight out there today because we lacked speed on the straights, which meant that we got overtaken easily and couldn’t fight back.“
Yet, Perez communicated his happiness as he placed in eighth to take away two points for Racing Point. But suggested it was on the sad side they could not fight for the other positions as midfield teams managed to make their way on to the podium within the race.
“In the end, our two points are really deserved and I’m pleased we came away with something. Unfortunately, we couldn’t fight for higher positions.“
On the other side, Stroll had a tricker race as he failed to finish but was classified in the race results after competing in over ninety percent of the race. He conveyed his disappointment, explaining that debris from the Scuderia Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel crashing caused him to retire.
“There’s not much to say today: it was a really disappointing afternoon. I ran over some debris from the Ferrari incident and that was it, my race was over. “
Stroll suggested that he felt with the safety car in the mix he could have been able to get point on the board for his team. He added that, he felt he was going strong in his car as his tyres were doing well as he headed for a one-stop strategy.
“It had been a really close race up until then and the Safety Car really mixed things up and changed the race for everybody. It’s a shame because up until then I was on a one-stop strategy, my tyres were performing well, and we were definitely in a position to grab some points today.”
