Mexican driver Sergio Pérez achieves goal in Chinese Grand Prix qualifying

Mexican driver Sergio Pérez achieved his goal of reaching Q3 and will start in eighth place this Sunday in the Chinese Grand Prix, while German driver Sebastian Vettel will start in first place.

The day before, Pérez Mendoza emphasized that his goal was to reach the third phase of qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit, and he did it for the first time this season in Formula 1.

'Checo' Pérez caused excitement in the final free practice session by placing himself in seventh position and maintained that good rhythm in qualifying. In Q1, he clocked a time of 1:33.464 to advance to the second stage.

In Q2, the Force India driver showed his worth and with a lap of 1:32.931 moved on to Q3, while his teammate, Frenchman Esteban Ocon, was eliminated and will start in twelfth position.

In Q3, the driver from Jalisco aimed to reduce his times for a better starting position and settled for a promising eighth place with a time of 1:32.758 after completing 13 laps on the Asian track.

Therefore, Sergio will start in the points zone, hopeful to score his first points of the season in the drivers' standings.

At the top, the pole position went to Vettel (1:31.095), the current leader of the season, taking away the good feeling from his Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen (1:31.182), however, the speed of Ferrari was impressive, delivering a statement against Mercedes.

The drivers of the "Cavallino Rampante" will occupy the front row, while the "silver arrows" will be the pursuers, with Valtteri Bottas (1:31.625) and reigning British champion Lewis Hamilton (1:31.675). Mercedes lost its dominance in qualifying in recent years at the Chinese GP.

The race promises excitement on Sunday, with Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen from the Netherlands and Daniel Ricciardo from Australia pressuring from the fifth and sixth positions; they will be followed by German driver Niko Hulkenberg (Renault) and completing the top ten are Sergio Pérez (Force India), Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (Renault), and French driver Romain Grosjean (Haas).