Sergio Perez was simply relieved to cross the finish line as he claimed his first podium in over two years at the Turkish Grand Prix.
The Mexican ran P2 pretty much throughout in a wet race at Istanbul Park, initially running behind teammate Lance Stroll, who led away from pole, and then Lewis Hamilton passed him for the lead and ultimately the win shortly after Stroll's second pit-stop.
Contrary to his Racing Point partner though, Perez opted not to stop for a second set of intermediates on the drying track, and that proved the right call albeit with some nervy moments in the closing laps.
"I told my team on the radio, I think one more lap on those tyres and they would have exploded," Perez said post-race.
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"The vibrations were extremely bad towards the end. But I think it also made that race, looking after them in the beginning [and] towards the end with drying conditions.
"The team did a fantastic job in terms of strategy reading the race. I think Lewis today was extremely strong, and towards the end, we died, but we managed to get a good result.”
Asked if he had any hairy moments en route to second place, Perez recalled his battle with Max Verstappen after the initial switch to intermediates, which ended with the Red Bull driver spinning out after running too close through Turn 11.
“I couldn't see anything on my mirrors," he said.
"My mirrors were full of fog, so my engineer was basically telling me the gaps and so on, and then all of the sudden, I saw Max running wide and he disappeared.
"The other one was with Charles [Leclerc]," Checo added. "I wasn't aware that he was so close to me. So in the final lap, it was a pretty good battle with him.
"He overtook me into Turn 10, and then I overtook him back into 12. It was a chaotic race, but a strong result for us.”
Perez's podium comes as he finds himself still without a seat for 2021, with Alex Albon's seat at Red Bull considered his only genuine option.
But as to whether his result might help him stay on the grid, the 30-year-old was honest.
"I think as always you know you have to be delivering weekend after weekend," he said.
"You are as good as your last race, so it's important to finish on a high. The rest is not in my hands."
