Perez Aiming For A Podium Finish

Force India driver Sergio Perez insists that a podium finish at some stage during the season is a must.

Perez, 28, missed out on a podium finish last season for the first time in four years. A statistic that he is desperate to reverse going into the 2018 season.

The Mexican helped Force India to a fourth-place finish in the constructor's championship last time out by scoring points in 17 races.

Speaking ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Perez said: “You always arrive in Melbourne full of hope.

“There are lots of unanswered questions and it’s when you really start to understand your competitiveness.

“At the same time, it’s not a typical race because it’s usually quite unpredictable. Often, just finishing the race is the key to getting a good result.

“I feel in good shape and ready for the season to start. I want this to be my best year in Formula one and I want to be back on the podium.

“During testing, we saw that all the midfield teams are quite close together in terms of performance. I also think the gap to the front of the grid is smaller. Let’s see what happens.”

As Sergio alluded to, the midfield pack is much tighter and Force India are under a lot more threat for the fourth position than this time last year with the likes of Renault, Toro Rosso, McLaren, Williams, and Haas all pushing to be the 'best of the rest'.

Perez’s teammate, Esteban Ocon is aiming for a points finish in Melbourne this weekend.

Ocon said: “It’s been a long winter with a two-month training camp for me in the Pyrenees, but hopefully all the hard work will pay off now the racing is starting.

“I can honestly say I’m in the best shape of my life. I feel ready to go racing again. Testing is one thing, but now we will get the real answers in terms of our performance.

“I’d like to think we can fight for points in Melbourne. We had a really solid second week of testing in Barcelona.

“I feel comfortable in the car and it’s very consistent. We have new parts coming for the race so hopefully, that’s another performance step.”