Sahara Force India driver Sergio Perez qualified in eighth place for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.
The team did a fantastic job overnight to unravel all the data from yesterday and dial the cars into this circuit. Barcelona provides a thorough test of a Formula One car and to be lining up in P8 shows the progress they continue to make with the development of the VJM10.
Sergio's performance was strong all day: he got through Q1 using just one set of tyres and delivered clean and tidy laps in Q2 and Q3.
“I'm very happy to be up in P8, although I am a bit disappointed to lose out to Fernando [Alonso] by such a small margin,” Sergio said afterwards. “This result comes as a bit of a surprise after some difficult practice sessions, but I think the team did everything right this afternoon.”
“I think the key to our performance was the way we approached our warm-up lap because we got the tyres in the correct window and found the grip when it mattered. The race is going to be long, but I have a new set of tyres, which we managed to save in Q1, and that should make a difference tomorrow. Overtaking is difficult here, so I hope I can make up some ground at the start: we have some very quick cars behind us who will give us a challenge, but I think we're on course for a good race.”
