- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - McLaren
Perez bemoans 'nightmare of a race'
Sergio Perez said he had "a nightmare of a race" as he finished ninth in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Having qualified in eighth place Perez slipped back behind Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta to score just two points. McLaren had looked competitive during Friday practice but Perez said he had issues with his tyres and traction throughout the race and was disappointed to not be able to make progress further up the field.
"On my first set on the prime I don't really know what happened," Perez said. "I struggled a lot with the early laps for front end. And also overtaking was very difficult for me, we didn't have any traction; we knew we were low on downforce trying to get the top speed but it was harder than we expected. I thought today was going to be a very good race but it turned out to be a nightmare of a race and a very difficult one."
Team-mate Jenson Button admitted an error he made in hitting Paul di Resta at the start ruined his own race.
"It's a pity that I keep having first-lap incidents when the car is actually working reasonably well," Button said. "Into Turn 1 I accidentally went up the bum of [di Resta] and just got all really cosy at Turn 1 I think with a Williams coming across from the right as well. Then I had to do two pit stops within about the space of seven laps - exactly the same as the last two races - so it's not really going my way. 44 laps on the prime at the end salvaged something I suppose in terms of getting the most out of what we had. No points today but a well-earned 12th place!"
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