Happy Perez says better result was possible despite strong sixth on Spanish GP grid

The Sauber driver continued to show the potential of the Swiss squad's car by qualifying in sixth position at Barcelona.

But after finishing less than two tenths away from third, the Mexican admitted he was frustrated to not have extracted something extra from his car.

"After the free practice sessions hadn't been so easy for me, in qualifying the car really felt good," said Perez. "I think the result is what we were hoping for and perhaps a little bit better than expected.

"The competition is so close that a tenth of a second can really make a big difference, and you always think you could go a bit faster. In this regard it is almost frustrating having finished sixth, because a slightly better position was within reach.

"However, I think we can have a strong race performance. A lot will be down to tyre degradation tomorrow, which is quite high here. I want to do a perfect race and get the maximum possible points, or even come home with a nice surprise."

Team-mate Kamui Kobayashi will start from tenth position after having to stop his car at the end of the Q2 because of a hydraulic problem.

The Japanese believes a place in the top five would have been possible if he had been able to run in Q3.

"We really had a good performance in qualifying, and I could feel I had not extracted the maximum potential out of the car yet," he said. "In Q1 I had a bit of traffic and also on my fastest lap in Q2 there was still room for improvement from me.

"I believe I could have been fighting for a top five position, and this was what I was looking forward to."