• Bahrain Grand Prix - FP2

Perez expects fight to make Q3

ESPN Staff
April 19, 2013 « 'Improvements to be done' - Raikkonen | Grosjean happier with new chassis »
Sergio Perez was 13th fastest in FP2 at Sakhir © Sutton Images
Enlarge
Related Links

Sergio Perez expects McLaren to be faced with a battle to make it in to Q3 in Bahrain after Friday's practice sessions.

Both Perez and Jenson Button were outside the top ten in the second session and over a second slower than pace-setter Kimi Raikkonen. Perez admitted it was going to be "a difficult weekend" for McLaren and that the team would have to come up with some different strategic options as he's unsure it will be able to make it through to the final part of qualifying.

"We managed to complete our full run-plan in both the morning and afternoon, which was a positive, but it's going to be a difficult weekend for us," Perez said. "Although we'll probably be fighting to get into Q3, there's still plenty of potential for having a good race on Sunday.

"The team has shown before that, with solid preparation, we can run a clever strategy on Sunday, and I think we have enough raw material from today to help us race strongly this weekend. So, scoring points is a realistic ambition for us here in Bahrain."

Having been 1.4s off the quickest time in FP2, Perez believes there wasn't much more to come from the car.

"Unfortunately I put on my option tyre pretty early and I overheated the tyres quite a lot, but that's pretty much where we are at the moment ... It will be a great performance if we can get to Q3 and score some points."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close