Force India’s Sergio Perez says his Chinese Grand Prix prospects were wrecked by a messy first lap, as he slipped out of the top 10.
Perez made his first Q3 appearance of the season on Saturday and went on to qualify in eighth position, behind only Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg in the midfield group.
Perez initially maintained position but was edged wide further around the lap and dropped to 14th place, behind a group of runners on Soft tyres, as opposed to the Ultrasofts used by Perez.
“It was another race ruined on the first lap,” said Perez, whose chances in Bahrain were undone by contact with Brendon Hartley.
“The start was chaotic and I ran into a lot of trouble. I was pushed wide by a Renault at the exit of Turn 4 and lost a lot of places there.
“That pretty much ruined our whole weekend. We were suddenly on the back foot, on the weaker tyre and there was very little I could do.”
Perez eventually greeted the chequered flag in 12th position, but it marked the third race this year where he has failed to score – he only came home empty-handed three times across the whole of 2017.
“We can focus on the positives: we are getting closer to our competition,” surmised Perez.
“We took a step forward [in qualifying] and we made another improvement [in the race] and I am confident that once we get to Europe we can start picking up some stronger results.”
Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon took 11th, leaving the Frenchman’s sole point in Bahrain as the squad’s only top 10 return so far this year.
As a result, Force India holds a lowly ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.
