Sergio Perez says he would not beat his Saudi Arabian Grand Prix pole time if he tried another 1,000 times, after grabbing top spot for the first time in his career.
Perez overhauled Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz during the closing stages of Q3 at Jeddah to snatch pole position.
It marked Perez’s maiden pole position at his 215th attempt – marking a new record in Formula 1 for the most starts before fronting qualifying.
“Today was very special to me, I achieved the best lap of my life,” said Perez.
“I feel like I could do another thousand laps and there is no chance I can get the same lap, with the amount of perfection and risk.
“This is probably the most difficult track for qualifying all season, you know if you’re on pole here then you nailed the lap.
“You have to be very precise, you must take all the risks and the risk to reward is extremely high but the positions you have to take around this place to get the perfect lap are so hard.”
Perez expects a tough fight with Ferrari, which claimed a 1-2 last Sunday in Bahrain, during the race in Saudi Arabia.
“We came to Jeddah from a very difficult weekend in Bahrain and the team have been pushing so hard out here and back in Milton Keynes, so I am extremely happy for them all,” he said.
“If anything, we were focusing more on the race pace so we felt Ferrari had the upper hand on us in qualifying.
“We will see if we have the pace to beat them in the race tomorrow. I need a good start and then I will try to control the race from there, it is going to be difficult because the Ferraris are quick and Max [Verstappen] will be in the mix too.
“We have a long race ahead of us but I am confident we can come out on top again.”
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