Perez ‘extremely happy’ with podium finish

2016 Monaco Grand Prix

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Sergio Perez says he is delighted to have secured a surprise podium for Force India at the Monaco Grand Prix after what he described as an ‘amazing day’.

Perez took advantage of staying out on fresher Intermediates to jump ahead of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel and held on with soft tyres to take his third podium for Force India and the sixth of his career.

“I’m extremely happy, because my team has done a tremendous job with the strategy, with the calls and the pitstops,” says Perez.

“It’s been an amazing day for us. It’s my third podium with the team, so a very special one to have in Monaco, especially in these race conditions.”

Perez pitted one lap earlier than Sebastian Vettel for soft tyres, which he used to jump ahead of the Ferrari and hold on, despite coming under late pressure.

“I think we did the right calls,” says Perez. “I think the best time for us was with the softs at the end.

“I was controlling the pace at the beginning, but Sebastian [Vettel] had a lot of pace, was a lot faster than us. But I managed my tyres and when I needed to push I had the tyre left. So it was an amazing race, really, with all the calls and everything so I’m extremely happy.”

Perez gave special thanks on the podium to the team’s embattled owner, Vijay Mallya.

“I want to dedicate this podium to our boss, Vijay Mallya. He has been very supportive during these times and I really want to dedicate this one to him.”

2016 Monaco Grand Prix

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    Will Wood
    Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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    36 comments on “Perez ‘extremely happy’ with podium finish”

    1. You really have to feel for Hulkenberg. This is not the first time he qualifies ahead and has the pace to perform similar to Perez yet he gets the bad strategy calls and ends up, not just behind but way behind. Had he not been stuck behind Massa he would’ve been way ahead of Perez in this race.

      1. I don’t know what else Checo needs to do in order to have a proper recognition, during the second half of last year and during this one, he show that is a better driver than Nico Hulkenberg, and during this race he make the right calls to stay out instead of changing the tyres, that was his decision and because of that and a brilliant race he finish third.

        Congrats Checo, the best for you is yet to come!!!

        1. agreed

        2. @bugsracer Probably change his nationality.

      2. perez is always there when the opportunity comes. his fast tyres and holding off Vettel are a testament to his talent. bad luck for Hulkenburg – he should have gone to WEC, he will never be an f1 champion as no top f1 team will take him, and instead he gets teammates taking the headline in f1.

      3. The part that you are probably missing is that Perez, not the team, decided when to stop -he disagreed with the team when they suggested him stopping earlier-, he chose the right strategy to avoid being behind Massa and it resulted in him jumping the other cars in front of him. He identified the bad strategy call, Hulk didn’t.

    2. Hulkenberg is unlucky, he was ahead today and should’ve finished there on normal conditions, but he’s also being shown the way since the release of the updated 2015 car last year.

      Perez keeps delivering, and he’s always grabbing the best opportunity out there. 3 podiums with Force India now!

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        29th May 2016, 18:24

        @fer-no65 Yeah Perez somehow is the “alternative strategy” king. Hulkenberg outscored him with a Sauber when Perez was at McLaren so I think that’s IMO, and it’s an opinion, is the true measure of the 2 drivers. I’m not sure how Hulk ended up behind Perez today – it’s a good question but I think Perez’ interview probably explained why:-)

        1. But that McLaren was a dog.

          1. No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t great but surely better than the Sauber which was at that time their worst car too.

            1. Sauber in the first half were abysmal, but in the second half they were easily a few tenths ahead of McLaren and not for behind Ferrari

      2. Fernando Deutsch (@)
        29th May 2016, 18:59

        It stills surprises me how people compares Perez drive on McLaren against other teams on that year. The only fair comparison would be only with Button. That Sauber was way better than that terrible McLaren. I still think Perez was not ready for a big team at that time but also I think the team was not 100% supportive to him. The way McLaren ditched out him was not the best.

        I am glad Checo has shown again what he is capable of. This is a track were a driver makes a difference, adding also the conditions that puts more work on the drivers hands.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          29th May 2016, 19:38

          @fdeutsch Jenson scored almost 50% more points than Perez and lost 13 out of 19 races. If I recall Gutierrez scored 6 points in the Sauber and I believe Hulkeberg scored almost 850% more points that his teammate. Not sure the Sauber was a good car but you can make the case that it did suit Hulkenberg or Gutierrez is really bad…

          1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            29th May 2016, 19:39

            Jenson won 13 out 19 races.

            1. Juan Melendez R1
              29th May 2016, 22:54

              Checo outqualified Jenson 10-9, Button scored 24 more points than checo less than 1.3 points per race, today’s checo is a totally different driver than 2013, he’s 4-2 in qualy this season against Hulk, 3-0 in podiums for Force India, he would match or defeat Jenson if they were teammates this year, he’s mature and stays out of trouble, and also he is still very young almost 3 years younger than Nico, also people tend to think Jenson is an average driver, he is not, Jenson Button is a great driver.

    3. If Massa had not hold Vettel and Hulkenberg up, they would have finished 3rd and 4th

      1. Massa seems really good at holding up/defending from guys who are faster than him @siegfreyco, seemingly especially if he’s not otherwise having a good race (maybe full on block mode rather than trying to get ahead?).

        1. @bosyber, the thing if, if he hadn’t managed to successfully hold them back, surely we’d then be criticising him for his poor defensive driving?

        2. Yeap, of Course!, if Kimi, Kvyat, Versateppen keep out crach, then some drivers have o point…!

          Races are Results! not out reality…!

      2. Yes, and if Alonso didn’t hold anyone he’ll get no points.

    4. He should as he has proof once more he doesn’t need a second row car to make the podium, 6 podiums in mid teams, only yr wasted was in the mclaren team, I mean look at Jenson he stay and Checo done 3 podiums since.

      1. that is an interesting analogy! Big grand McLaren, but checo has the more podiums in a team destined to always be midfield.

        1. But McLaren is also a midfield team, right?

    5. congratulation to Perez. it’s a relly strange situation for me, as i really thought back in 2012 that his Sauber teammate Kobayashi drove more convincingly, however, Perez brought home the spectacular results. i thought the same about the Force India duo, that Hülkenberg would have the upper hand, but again, Perez strikes back with podium finishes. and lot of results can be explained by extreme conditions, traffic, whatever, todays results too, but this is becoming a trend, which cannot be ignored and explained by pure luck. Perez might not be faster than Kobayashi or Hülkenberg, but has other abilites that helps him a lot to deliver in todays F1.

    6. Congratulations to Checo, showing great skills in a very demanding track like Monaco and that he is a driver to be taken seriously. I will not be like the other loonies in here damning his teammate’s bad luck or for not being favored by the team, instead I will praise Perez’s great form (being ahead of Hulkenberg for a while now…) and also Force India for outperforming the big dogs today. WELL DONE!!

    7. Not the first time Perez beats Hulkenberg and not the last one. Kudos to him and to Force India for the result

    8. Perez was great as usual, but this should have the Hulk’s day. Very unlucky with strategy, faster than Checo, at least over one lap.

    9. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      29th May 2016, 18:26

      Yeah Force India will put the final nail into Hulkenberg’s career. Sad because Hulk did outscore Perez in 18 races with a Sauber over Perez in a McLaren over 20 races

    10. Shoutout to Checo, one of my fav drivers. I think he should replace Raikko. Great drive today.

    11. Perez should replace Kimi at Ferrari. Amazing job today. Perez has always been Magic at Monaco a drivers track. Holding the Mighty Ferrari and Vettel back. If he only had a faster car.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        30th May 2016, 1:27

        @F1fan I’m not sure that Perez can deliver at a top team – he’s a gem for midfield teams, he’s almost a specialist at getting podiums for teams that can’t but at top teams, there are just not enough races of that type to allow him to use his abilities. If it rained and there was chaos in every race, he might do really well in all of there;-)

        1. Monaco a drivers track my friend. He showed u today in the wet no less. Try it in a video game with a wheel no aids in the dry and tell me how many times u hit the wall. A midfield car is not a great balanced massive power fast car like the Mercedes or Adrain Newey massive downforce car like the RB. It takes skill to get it there. Anyway No Real Racing driver would settle for a Slow midfield car. Like JP said “80% of it is the car.” Faster pit stops and better strategist. A top team. Ferrari should give him a chance.

    12. Well done SfI!

      This just shows why every midfield team should invest in a pair of excellent drivers.

      But also drivers might need time to mature, he showed talent early and got to Mclaren what, age 22?

      Mexican kid to a declining top team, ripe for disaster.

      Hulkenberg just seems to always fall short of podiums, despite good quali efforts etc.

      Kvyat should look az Perez and emulate. StR is on similar level to SfI, this is how to perform in midfield.

    13. Still wondering why he wasn’t penalised for crossing the pit lane exit lane after swapping to slicks.

      1. I am still wondering why LH did not get penalized as well. Maybe Ric could have won that race.

    14. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      31st May 2016, 16:12

      As happy as Perez was, that’s how unhappy Sainz was – same strategy, same ride, slower pit stops, P8… Brutal for Sainz, a podium stolen by slow pit stops. Try getting back a podium at Monaco with a Toro Rosso:-)

      Just what he needed to make a statement against Max Verstappen. P3 to P8… Point-wise 15 points vesus 4……

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