Perez happy with progress: "The car requires a certain style of driving".

"No, this is not an ideal start to the season", Perez also knows. In conversation with Jack Plooij at Ziggo Sport, the 31-year-old driver also points to the process he is currently in the middle of. "We are making progress. The car requires a certain driving style and I just figure it out. I think I made a good step from the third free practice to qualifying."

His first run in Q2 had to be scrapped due to exceeding track limits. On mediums, he then failed to make it into the top-ten."Unfortunately, I didn't get my lap right in qualifying. Hopefully, we can improve tomorrow. Every kilometre I make helps me."

Perez is not too shy about putting his own hand up. "I didn't perform as I should have on the mediums." At the Grand Prix, Perez does have a free choice of tyres. "Hopefully that's going to pay off for us tomorrow."