Sergio Perez admits he needs a big recovery from the back of the grid as he and Racing Point have "a lot of things to lose" in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
With third in the Constructors' Championship and fourth in the Drivers' standings to be decided, the Mexican is set to start 19th after a grid penalty for taking three new engine components above his allocation for the season.
However, after recovering from 18th to win just a week ago in Bahrain, Perez is feeling confident he can put in a similar performance.
“The car is feeling good, it’s a big shame that I’m going to be starting from the back because I think we have a good potential for qualifying, and to fight for the podium again here,” he told reporters at Yas Marina.
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“We’ve put everything together for the race. We’ve focused on every single bit, so we’ll see what we are able to do, but a lot of things can happen.
“We have a lot of things to lose tomorrow,” he added. “It still requires a very good race from our side.
"We have to make sure we get into the points – well into them because the battle in the championship is very, very tight so we have to make sure that we have a strong race tomorrow and make as much progress as we possibly can.”
At the same time, Perez admits the realisation that this weekend is not only his last at Racing Point but potentially in F1 too, is starting to hit home.
“I’m just starting to realise things are coming to an end,” he said. “We just did our final qualifying in our history, so tomorrow will be a bit emotional I guess.
“Hopefully tomorrow we can recover as much as possible.
“We have to do something different. We have to use our car pace tomorrow, try to get as much free air as possible and see where we end up. I think here will be a bit different [to the Sakhir Grand Prix] – but you never know.”
As for teammate Lance Stroll, he starts P8 on the grid.
