18/03/2012
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:Sergio Perez is fast developing a reputation. Racing his way to eighth at the season opening Australian Grand Prix, it could have been more were it not for a mid-race safety car.
The Mexican, who debuted at Albert Park last season, opted for a single stop strategy after a gearbox change dropped him to last on the grid. Protecting his tyres in the early part of the race the Sauber driver ran as high as fourth in the early phases (he was eleventh by lap two), before falling to fifteenth after pitting on lap 24.
It was to be his one and only stop as the Mexican gradually moved his way up to seventh when the safety car was deployed. Nearly twenty laps old by the time the safety car pulled in to the pits to release the field, his tyres had had enough.
"Everybody behind had new tyres, and also in front," he explained. "It was very difficult."
Valiantly he fought on before making contact with Rosberg on the final lap. "Nico tried to overtake me when there was so much debris on the circuit," he explained. Lifting to avoid an incident the 22-year-old collected a puncture for his trouble, though he fared better than Rosberg who also suffered a puncture and dropped out of the points.
It allowed Kobayashi and Raikkonen to sneak by, however, Perez was able to cling on to eighth in the final exchanges, keeping a resurgent Ricciardo, Di Resta and Vergne at bay.
"It was a great race," he beamed. "It was very difficult what happened in the last lap but there was nothing I could do.
"All in all I think not a bad race when starting from last."