Winning strategy for Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez was the only one with Jerome d'Ambrosio (Lotus), Pastor Maldonado (Williams) and Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) to opt for hard tires at the start of the Italian Grand Prix. The Sauber driver had a remarkable first stint in Primes, being the last to pit once he was in control of the race. Shod on mediums for the second part of the event, the Mexican was able to overtake his rivals to take second place ahead of the drivers Ferrari and fail just four seconds behind the winner Lewis Hamilton. Paradoxically, it was certainly its poor performance in qualifying which allowed Sauber to choose the right strategy for the race.

“I really enjoyed it, it was one of those races where I had the speed and I could attack”, explains the Sauber driver, tipped to replace Felipe Massa next year at Ferrari. “There were important moments during the race, especially during my first stint where staying on track and keeping the pace was not an easy thing. I did a lot of laps on the hard tires and I was able to maintain maximum attack in the second stint and had some great battles with other drivers. I don't think we had the speed needed in qualifying to get anywhere near the front row or the top five. We really weren't fast because we lacked speed on the straights. I didn't do a good lap and I think I could still have been in the top ten. However, it helped change the strategy. »

Discover the analysis of the Italian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.