F1 | Abu Dhabi GP | Sergio Perez after a bittersweet qualifying session: “I lost P3, but I’m happy I helped the team and Max”

As the sun sets in the final qualifying session of this season, Sergio Perez took out a very good performance and showed team spirit at Yas Marina today, helping his teammate, the Drivers' World Championship contender Max Verstappen, to get pole position for tomorrow’s race. The Mexican gave his teammate a tow on the first run in Q3 as he ended up P4 on the grid himself.

Soon after qualifying he commented: “It was a bit of a shame that we lost P3 to Lando [Norris], but I think we did out best. This was a team work and result. Tomorrow there’s still a plenty of work to do, a lot of action and things to happen. I want to take the good side, despite I wished for more”.

Perez does not hide what the main target was, and he said: “My primary target today was to help Max get the pole and in Q3, and we managed to do it, so yes; I lost P3 in the final corner but it’s not a big disaster. In the end there’s many chances for me tomorrow at the start. It’s gonna be a long race and hopefully I will be in a strong position enough to help Max”.

Red Bull has opted for a soft-tyre start strategy, but Perez and the team do not seem so stressed by this: “There’s still a lot we can do, also starting on softs. It won’t make any difference. Hopefully we’re going to have a good start and go on from there. We also choose a downforce setting, but I don’t think it’s wrong; we still have a lot to play for. We have to make a good start, it’s all here”

“My objective tomorrow is to attack Lewis [Hamilton] as soon as I can, instead of keeping Bottas behind, so that I can help him to win this race”.