Perez: Strong points haul the aim again

Jamie Woodhouse
Sergio Perez PA

Sergio Perez confident of points again in Austria.

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez is confident that his team are firmly in the hunt for points again at the Red Bull Ring.

The team were expected to be fast this season with their RP20, and that theory came true at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.

Although a DNF for Lance Stroll, as well as a poor strategy choice and penalty for Perez took a bit of a shine off things.

Still Perez was able to finish P6, and after ending the second practice session ahead of the Styrian Grand Prix in P3, two tenths behind Max Verstappen who was fastest, the Mexican driver is confident of being in the mix for a points-finish again.

Speaking to the Racing Point website, he said: “It’s been a promising day. We’ve been chipping away and learning about our car, and that’s been positive so far – exploring where we can make improvements and find performance.

“It’s very close among the top teams, but we’ve shown that both cars are in the mix for points, just like we were last weekend.

“Obviously, there’s signs of wet weather tomorrow so let’s wait and see what happens in qualifying.”

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If the rain does force FP3 and qualifying to be scrapped as feared, then the results from FP2 could form Sunday’s grid, meaning Perez would start from the second row in P3.

Stroll would also have a handy starting spot in such a situation too after ending FP2 in P4, meaning Racing Point would lock out the second row.

So, like his team-mate, all eyes are now on the weather.

“It’s been a good day and I’m happy with the car: the signs are that we look quite competitive,” he said.

“It’s unique circumstances to be racing at the same circuit two weeks in a row. We are getting to know the place extremely well.

“It’s still early in the season, so we were able to use today’s running to look at ways to improve the car and try some new set-up ideas to progress from last weekend.

“We now need to wait and see what happens with the weather and qualifying, but we’ve put ourselves in a good position.”

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