Sergio Perez admits he’ll be “disappointed” if he doesn’t beat McLaren in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Racing Point has been the talk of the paddock throughout Friday and Saturday, as the Mexican ran just behind the Mercedes’ and Max Verstappen during practice.
So when it finally came to qualifying, most were expecting the ‘Pink Mercedes’ to consolidate its place as the third-best car, instead, Perez was only sixth and was beaten by the McLaren of Lando Norris in fourth.
“We knew all the way through the weekend that the margins were very small around us with the McLarens, the Red Bulls and people behind like the Renaults,” he said after qualifying.
“McLaren showed their true pace right at the end there in Q3. My Q3 was okay, I found the track a bit slower.”
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Looking ahead to Sunday though, Perez does expect the speed will return and hopes it will be enough to beat their Woking-based rivals.
“I think we have a good race pace, so we should be able to fight them from there. We’ll definitely be in the mix,” he said. “I will be disappointed if we don’t beat them tomorrow.”
Teammate Lance Stroll is known as a weak qualifier, but was within two-tenths of his teammate as he claimed ninth on the grid.
“All in all it was a positive qualifying for the team, both cars in Q3. It’s a great way to start the season,” said the Canadian.
“I think my lap was clean. I would’ve changed a couple of things with the balance of the car just to optimise my lap time in Q3, but we gave it a good shot.
“It’s so tight between all the cars so a couple of tenths makes a big difference, any given lap, there’s five or six positions in it.“
The 21-year-old though sees the level of competitiveness as only positive for F1 going forward.
“It’s really tight, it’s great for the fans, it’s great for us drivers, we want to see lap times that are really tight between all of us drivers and that’s what we’re seeing now so I think it should be a really exciting season.”