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Sergio Perez has reflected on a tough opening weekend for Force India, with the team coming away from Melbourne without a point for the first time since 2009. The team who has been the class of the midfield for the past couple of years with consecutive fourth-place finishes in the constructors' championship has seemingly fallen back this year.
The team has added competition this year from the likes of Haas, McLaren and Renault, who all qualified better than Force India. The Pink Panthers only managed 12th and 14th on the grid on Saturday. The race saw them not able to really challenged the point scorers until late on, with Perez closing on an ill-sounding Carlos Sainz - but ultimately to no avail.
“It was quite an unlucky weekend for us, but there are still positives to take from this race," said the Mexican. "We came close to bringing home a point although it was just out of reach. I was pushing throughout the whole race and especially chasing Sainz in the final laps. I got really close to him, but it wasn’t enough.
"Overtaking in Melbourne is very difficult – you could see the same with Bottas who couldn’t pass me during the first stint. The Virtual Safety Car also didn’t help us at all, but that’s just how things go sometimes. I am still happy with my performance and the job we did as a team.
"We will need to move on and keep improving, but I believe we will soon be in a position to battle for points. Hopefully our improvements will come as early as Bahrain. It’s a race where you can overtake and strategy plays a bigger part compared to Melbourne.”
Sam Gale
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Its incredibly disappointing to see FI down there, fighting the likes of Williams. Yet its somehow a positive for me at the same time: we see two teams powered by Mercedes F*ing Benz Son, the king of the hybrid era, fighting in the lower midfield with the likes of Sauber and STR. I have little doubt they will be able to parasite from the better reliability in the long run, but for now, we are seeing a trend where power and oil burning seem to be less and less of a deciding factor. I still think Works Merc' is the team to beat, but if Ferrari and RB get the chance to grab front row lockouts or overtake the Merc' cars, they'll have a much harder time following and reclaiming those positions. And I'll take that and run with it as far as my spindly skinny legs can carry me.