Sergio Perez says he would be disappointed to end qualifying for Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix outside the first two rows of the grid.
Mercedes has dominated Formula 1’s qualifying sessions this season but Racing Point has regularly challenged Red Bull for best-of-the-rest.
Lance Stroll captured third on the grid in Hungary while super-sub Nico Hulkenberg replicated the position at Silverstone.
Perez finished Friday practice at Spa-Francorchamps fifth overall but is targeting a stronger placing on Saturday.
“We’re happy, we’ve had a strong Friday,” Perez said. “So looking forward to putting everything together, I think we’re going to be in the mix tomorrow.
“Let’s see what happens with the conditions. But I’m pretty confident, I was happy with the car today. So it’s been a strong Friday.
“I will be disappointed not to be in the first two rows tomorrow, so we are very optimistic. The car is performing well, I hope overnight we are able to find a couple of tenths and then we can be in the mix.”
Perez added that the strong pace isn’t restricted to qualifying, and is confident that Racing Point will have a competitive car during Sunday’s grand prix.
“I think also we were strong [on race pace]. We don’t have enough information, we’re in the same page as everybody else, because we got the red flag. So it will be interesting to see what happens in the race.”
The Mexican, who returned to F1 two weeks ago in Barcelona after recovering from COVID-19, affirms that Racing Point will be strong even if wet conditions befall the circuit during the weekend.
“I think we’ve picked up a lot of pace in the wet as well so I would prefer dry because we’ve found a good rhythm, but I don’t mind, I hope tomorrow we can be strong in the wet,” Perez stated.
