Perez happy after tough weekend: 'I almost climbed out of my car'

Sergio Perez finished a fine fifth on Sunday, after everything that could go wrong in his first weekend with Red Bull Racing. The Mexican nearly crashed out of his car at the start of the race.

Perez drove very strong all weekend and was close to the times of Max Verstappen, but during qualifying it went wrong. The Mexican fell just short of passing Q3 on yellow tyres and had to start from P11. When his engine suddenly failed before the race, his race seemed over.

''Considering how my race started and what happened, I am very happy with fifth place. I was warming up my tyres for the race and suddenly my car went out. I was about to climb out of my car, but then I listened to my engineer and somehow we got it running again. That was really a miracle,'' Perez said according to Speedweek.com.

The Mexican then drove a strong race from the pit lane and finished fifth. ''The start from the pits was obviously far from ideal, but I managed to fight my way back into the race. Finishing the race was the most important thing and I am happy with the amount of kilometres I made to gain experience with this car. It is very important for me to understand this car better and will now work even harder to be stronger in Imola '', concludes the Mexican.