Force India’s Sergio Perez hopes Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix will mark the real start of his Formula One season after dismissing last weekend’s Malaysian race as ‘boring’ on Thursday.
The Mexican did not start at Sepang due to a gearbox problem and spent the afternoon watching as a spectator instead.
It was not an experience the 24-year-old is in any hurry to repeat.
“Malaysia for me was quite a boring race, with Mercedes dominating and actually nothing happening in the midfield,” he told reporters at a gusty and cloudy Sakhir circuit. “I think it was a boring race.
“Here hopefully we can see good racing. Hopefully for the fans and for the good of Formula One we can have a good show here,” he added.
Perez has just one point to his credit from two races in his first season with Force India, and that was thanks to Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo being disqualified in Melbourne – a controversial disqualification (as they usually are) which remains subject to a controversial appeal…
The former Sauber and McLaren driver’s German team mate Nico Hulkenberg meanwhile has 18 points after finishing fifth in Malaysia and sixth in Australia.
Perez, whose Australian Grand Prix was ruined by a collision with the Sauber of compatriot Esteban Gutierrez on the first lap, said that he had just had bad luck.
“The first two weekends have been really unfortunate for me with too many issues. Hopefully now that the car has the pace…Nico has shown that it has good pace, we can have a clear weekend without the issues,” he said.
“He has had two very strong races and a lot of points, so I am quite [far] behind…Basically this is my start of the season so hopefully we can have a great result.
“I think there is good potential in the car, every weekend we are learning a lot. Once we have no issues and problems we should be really competitive,” he added. (Reuters)
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