Force India's Sergio Perez has admitted that he was "massively surprised" by the pace of Alfa Romeo Sauber at the Russian Grand Prix, with the Swiss team outscoring the Silverstone-based squad at the 16th round of the 2018 season.
Heading to the Sochi Autodrom off the back of a difficult weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix, Perez started the race in Russia from eighth on the grid alongside Charles Leclerc while his fellow Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon lined up in sixth.
In a relatively straightforward race start, Perez maintained eighth position after failing to jump ahead of Sauber's Leclerc off the line, trailing Ocon for the first part of the race with the Frenchman running in seventh.
Through the superior pace of Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, Perez was quickly shuffled down the running order, lapping in 10th place before briefly dropping outside of the points due to the long-running Renault of Nico Hulkenberg who used the Soft tyre for his opening stint.
With team orders now being implemented in the Force India camp following a collision between Perez and Ocon in Singapore, management exercised its control over their drivers, instructing the pair to yield positions to one another in an attempt to attack eighth-placed runner Kevin Magnussen.
Any attempt that the team made to attack the Haas driver ultimately failed, and Ocon and Perez rounded out the points-paying positions in ninth and tenth, taking a low-key three points away from Sochi.
"We just had to follow each other and the team tried to maximise today, they gave me the chance to push into [Kevin] Magnussen because we thought at the time that I was a bit quicker, which didn’t happen," said Perez post-race.
"I understood the decision and we did what we could today."
After starting alongside Leclerc, Perez revealed that he was surprised by the pace of his former Sauber team for whom he drove for in 2011 and 2012, with the Ferrari-bound Monegasque driver finishing in seventh place as the winner of the 'best of the rest' category.
"The Sauber came from nowhere and beat us massively," he said.
"I think they’ve done an amazing job. I just saw him [Charles Leclerc] on the first lap and then he disappeared.
"It was a massive surprise so let’s see what happens at Suzuka, different track and hopefully we can a bit more competitive there," he added.
Now competing under the name of Racing Point Force India, the team currently sits in seventh place in the Constructors' Championship with 35 points after its prior points tally was voided following the team's takeover at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Sauber sit seven points adrift of the team in the Standings with five rounds of the 2018 season remaining.
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