The local hero, Sergio Perez finished P7, as best of the rest after starting P11. The Mexican driver says that finishing 7th on his home turf felt no less than a victory.
“This feels like a victory for us”
“This is a great day for me and my team.
“I think the race was just about perfect and I want to congratulate the entire team for all their hard work delivering this result."
"It’s extra special to score good points in my home race – in front of the fans who have given me so much support this week.” said Perez.
Racing Point opted to pit Sergio on lap 20 to replace his medium tires with hard ones. Perez then drove for the remainder of the race on the same set of tires, a stint that lasted 51 laps.
The strategy worked wonders for the home favorite as he managed to keep an ever attacking Daniel Ricciardo at bay, to finish a remarkable P7, fetching 6 points for his team.
"The race was so intense – especially the battle against Daniel at the end, when he was on fresher tyres and putting big pressure on me,” he recalled.
“I had to concentrate so hard and push right until the end. I’m very satisfied with our performance and the points we scored today are important for the fight in the teams’ championship.”
Perez's teammate, Lance Stroll finished in 12th position. The biggest highlight of Perez's race was during his second stint, when he managed to defend a very aggressive move by Ricciardo on turn-1.
The Australian driver was trailing Perez closely for quite a few laps and on lap 61, he finally saw an opportunity to get past the local hero. Going into turn-1, Ricciardo pulled out of Perez's slipstream and braked quite late into the corner; this late dive translated into Ricciardo locking up his front tires and overshooting the corner.
While the Renault driver had to go onto the grass, rejoin the track and then concede the place back to Perez to avoid any penalties, the maneuver nonetheless managed to make an ecstatic home crowd go wild; as Perez managed to retain his position.
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