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Perez predicts Force India fightback at Hockenheim

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Sergio Perez insists Force India's struggles at Silverstone were a blip and fully expects the team to be back to its 2014 best at the German Grand Prix.

The Force Indias were the lowest Mercedes-powered cars to finish at Silverstone, with both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez struggling with a number of factors such as the heavy crosswinds at various parts of the circuit. Perez, who finished 11th in Britain, thinks Hockenheim will be a more forgiving circuit to some of Force India's weaknesses.

"I am confident we should be good here," Perez said. "I think it will be really good for the team to get back to our level. With the track layout being such long corners, plus with the wind, we don't have the efficiency other cars do have. So in other places we can compensate, for example the traction with straight-line braking, which is good on our car. I think Silverstone just didn't suit our car and it went against all the weaknesses on our car.

"We have a really big car; it's very difficult to get it in the right [set-up] window over the weekend. At Silverstone, even the test I did on Tuesday, the car was really inconsistent from one hour to another, which we suspect was the wind. It will be good to get back here and see if we can get back into our form, which will be good for the confidence of the team."

Perez fell afoul of the stewards in Canada following his late collision with Felipe Massa, but since the Montreal race the FIA has implemented a less hard-line approach to racing incidents. This was clear in Britain as the stewards held off punishing Jean-Eric Vergne for first-lap contact with Perez, which the Mexican welcomes if the rules remain consistent.

"The stewards said we should let drivers race and we should try to follow as much a consistent line as possible. It's very difficult when you change the stewards every race to follow that line, but I think after the penalty they gave me in Canada they put in the rule to let more racing so hopefully we can see more consistency - that will be ok for the sport I think.

"Vergne came to apologise right after the race, I think he overshot the corner. He was fighting with two cars and he tried to brake late, I was fighting in the corner and there was nothing deliberate about it. In the end the stewards decide not to look at it and that is there decision, so hopefully if that happens with other drivers they follow the same rule. Obviously if you ruin another drivers' race by making a stupid mistake then it's up to the stewards to take the right direction on that."

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