Sergio Perez has full confidence that he can climb the podium at the F1 United States Grand Prix
AUSTIN, Texas -- Although starting from the ninth position is not ideal, Sergio Perez has full confidence that he can climb the podium at the F1 United States Grand Prix. How? There can be no other route: being competitive in race pace and making a comeback.
Interviewed by ESPN at the Circuit of the Americas, where the seventeenth race of the season will take place on Sunday, Checo Perez appeared calm and set the goal of reaching the winners' circle after improving in the qualifying sessions for this weekend, making it to Q3 for both the Sprint and the GP.
"Yes, I believe that we are going to be competitive in the race, I think we can make a comeback from there, and as I was saying, it's a race where we are all very close, a tenth would have made our qualifying look very different, so I am calm," explained the Guadalajara native, who will have 56 laps on the 5.513-kilometer track to build the race that will take him to the podium.
"Reaching the podium, making a comeback to the podium, that would be an excellent result," he added.
In a Sprint race weekend, there is only one free practice session, so finding the right setup is almost like a 'hole in one', but even though they took the wrong direction at Red Bull on Friday, knowing what you didn't do also helps.
"In these Sprint events, you only have one chance to set up your car and we took the wrong direction, yet the gap to pole was four tenths, one tenth would have changed our lives quite a bit. We are in the fight even though the position is not very good, we start ninth for tomorrow, we are very close and I think we can fight from there in the race," said the 33-year-old Guadalajara native.
Checo Perez's future in F1 is a topic floating around the paddock, thanks to comments and rumors, but the Mexican from Red Bull is in his fifteenth season in the top category and after Austin, he will hold sole possession of tenth place in GP's started among all the drivers in history. Checo will have 253 starts compared to Jarno Trulli's 252 on the list led by Fernando Alonso with 373.
"I don't know, it has been a story throughout the year, the whole year has been like this or maybe since I arrived at Red Bull, it's something that has been there, the press, especially the European press, really likes to talk about the topic of my future, but it's something that doesn't concern me, I know where I stand and I have a contract for next year," he said.
"It is an honor to have a long career in Formula 1, such a complicated sport with so few opportunities, it's something that doesn't mean much today, but at some point in my life, in my career, it will mean a lot," he said about entering the Top 10.
For Checo Perez, Austin and Mexico City are the most important races of the year because he is close to "his people" and wants to do better than anywhere else.
They are intense races, with a lot of attention on me, but also very special, with a lot of support and affection from the people, something that means a lot to me because many people who come here don't have the opportunity to see me elsewhere and that makes it even more special, but if there are races where I want to do better than anywhere else, they are definitely these two."