Sergio Perez won Formula 1's driver of the day award for the first time, after securing an impressive third place in Monaco for Force India, whilst team-mate Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth to give the team their largest ever points haul.
Perez qualified eighth, but thanks to a masterful strategy wound up fighting for the final podium position to eventually finish just 15 seconds behind race winner Lewis Hamilton and second-placed Daniel Ricciardo.
"The key to my race was the strategy and we got things just about perfect," said Perez. "The first difficult decision was when to fit the intermediate tyre and we delayed this as long as possible. The team said it was my call when to come in and it paid off because we managed to jump a couple of cars, including my team-mate.
"The switch to dry tyres was another key moment because I pitted early, a lap before Rosberg and Vettel, and managed to jump ahead of them.
"Everybody in the team deserves this result and I want to dedicate this podium to Vijay Mallya in particular."
The Mexican driver hopes his latest podium – which means he now has more podium finishes than McLaren since he left the team – puts him in a position to secure a top seat in the coming seasons.
"I had a really tough time at McLaren and it seems that this is what everyone remembers, my time at McLaren but no one remembers my time at Sauber, my time at Force India," he said.
"All I can do is keep doing my job, keep doing as well as I can, keep improving as a driver. I think in the last years I have improved a lot. I'm a more complete driver in all aspects, qualifying, race, race pace, better experience."
Discussion about this post