Sergio Perez said he is "pleased" with his podium following his "terrible" qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. His best lap in Q3 at Monza was only good enough for fifth behind George Russell on the grid, who he battled with during the opening stages. While the Mercedes driver put up a stern defence, the Mexican could utilise better tyre management in the RB19 to get past and set his sights on a podium. Perez later passed both Ferraris - following a few near-misses with Carlos Sainz for second - and finished just six seconds off teammate Max Verstappen.
Perez: We've made a lot of progress
The Mexican was satisfied with a clean weekend, after a difficult race in Zandvoort in which a late race penalty demoted him to fourth. "Very pleased – but we had a terrible Saturday in terms of the issues we had in FP3 with the car that really put us back in qualifying," Perez told media, including RacingNews365 of his weekend. "I think we could have had a better starting position, which definitely will have put us a lot closer in the fight for victory. "But certainly, we made a lot of progress, which is a positive thing. “I think we've done very well [with the set-up direction], and some work with the suspension [helped.] [After that I was] able to feel quite a lot more comfortable."
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