- Canadian GP - FP2
Perez concerned Force India has fallen behind
Sergio Perez is concerned Force India may struggle to make Q3 in Canada after a frustrating Friday suggested it may have dropped down the pecking order.
The Mercedes-powered teams are expected to have an edge in Canada, while Force India has traditionally performed well at low downforce tracks such as Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but it failed to make the top ten in either Friday session. Force India seemed off the pace of Williams and McLaren, the other Mercedes customer cars, on one-lap pace and in the longer stints and Perez admits he had expected to see more in FP1 and FP2.
"Unfortunately we are not where we want to be," Perez said. "We are finding issues with the car so I think we have some lap time that we can find, but on the other hand we do not look as good as we were hoping to be this weekend.
"There's a lot of work we need to do tonight to get ourselves in a good position. Tomorrow it will be very difficult to make Q3 but hopefully we can really fight to get there."
Both Ferrari and Red Bull appeared to have taken a step forward to the works Mercedes team out in front, which Perez admits is a big concern for the chasing factory teams.
"I think, of course, they have done a step forward and that's definitely hurt us, a lot more than other [Mercedes powered] cars."
Perez also thinks it may be difficult to find a solution with such different set-ups to team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, but is confident a solution can be found overnight.
"Mainly I struggled with the rear end of the car, we know that's our weakness and at the moment we are trying to analyse between Nico and myself - even though we have quite different set-ups - which direction we can take. Let's see tomorrow, I am confident we have some good time to find with some issues we had today, but it's not looking that great. It could be a tough weekend."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
