Perez: Unknown damage hurt Mexican's qualifying

Sergio Perez was the slowest driver in Q3 at the Circuit of the Americas for the American Grand Prix later tonight, a result that was partly down to damage the Mexican had on his car from Q1.

Perez says he is unaware where the damage came from but insisted that it affected his pace in Q2 and Q3.

He and team mate Esteban Ocon recorded almost the same time in Q2, but Ocon found extra pace in the final session of qualifying to earn P6 for tomorrow’s race, four places ahead of Perez.

The gap between the team mates was four tenths and Perez thinks the damage is to blame.

He said: “My first attempt in Q1 was pretty good, but when I returned to the garage we inexplicably discovered a lot of damage to the right hand side of my car, on the floor and bargeboards.

“We tried to fix it in the time we had, but we couldn’t repair it completely. From that moment on my car behaved differently and it hurt the balance.

“I struggled quite a bit in Q2 and Q3. The car definitely had potential, as Esteban demonstrated, so it’s a shame not to get more from today.”

The 28-year old believes that he can make up a few more positions and score some points for himself and his team as he looks to snatch P7 in the drivers’ standings and help Force India topple McLaren for P6 in the constructors’ standings.

He continued: “Our aim tomorrow is to make up some ground. We have a car that can do it so let’s see what opportunities come our way.”