Sergio Pérez trapped by rain in Melbourne

Sergio Pérez did not have a good qualifying session at the Australian Grand Prix as the Mexican only took 16th position on the grid after following a poor strategy during the second session. The new Force India recruit was trapped by the arrival of rain preventing him from improving his time after losing time in the pits. Checo must bear the comparison with his teammate Nico Hulkenberg who qualified in seventh place.

“It was not an easy session, especially in Q2, and unfortunately we were not able to put in a good lap in these wet conditions.”, explained Sergio Pérez who will leave between the Williams de Valtteri Bottas and Max Chilton's Marussia. “It was hard to navigate traffic and I had to stop to put on new tires when the track was probably in the best condition. I locked the wheels at turn 3 on my last attempt, lost control and couldn't come back. I didn't expect these qualifications, but we know we will have another chance tomorrow. We will fight to try to grab points. »

Vijay Mallya is also confident about the Mexican's potential to gain places in the peloton. “I think he will do much better in the race and improve his position because our speed in practice suggests we can fight for points.”, underlines the Team Principal and the Managing Director of Force India. “The weather will certainly play a big role with still chances of rain, requiring us to prepare for all sorts of situations. »

The Australian Grand Prix will be contested from 7 a.m. French time and can be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr. Photos from the weekend can be found on this link.