Perez: To get such a perfect lap here is never easy

Although the Mexican's best lap of 1:37.985 was nearly two seconds down on the pole time set by Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, it was nevertheless three-tenths up on the next Best of the Rest who was Romain Grosjean in the Haas.

Perez told reporters, "Yeah, it was quite a surprise for us, you know. We were not expecting this amount of pace. We definitely brought an upgrade but to put four tenths on the Haas and Renault. Four and six-tenths is definitely a great lap."

“It just came all together. It was a very strong lap and to get such a perfect lap around here is never easy, you put a lot of stress on the tyres so the team did a fantastic job today."

"I think I produced a nearly perfect lap on a track where it is hard to achieve it. We're ahead of our direct rivals and just behind the leaders."

"We had an advantage of four-tenths on the Haas and six tenths on the Renault, and I think it goes to show that our upgrade package is already making a difference. This is a track that normally doesn't play to our strengths, so I was a pleased at the pace we have shown."

"Tomorrow's race is going to be a long one - nearly two hours - and there's never a boring race in Singapore with incidents and Safety Cars influencing the end result. We need to make it to the chequered flag, avoid mistakes and hopefully I can make it eight races out of eight in the points in Singapore."

"Starting on hypersoft tyres can leave me a bit vulnerable to those behind, but track position is very important here. It's not as crucial as in Monaco, but I'd rather be ahead than catching up," added Perez.

Despite losing all points since being taken over by Racing Point, the team have bounced back with their best results and are seventh in the constructors on 32 points with seven races remaining.