"His racing speed was impeccable" - Sergio Perez gets rare praise from Helmut Marko

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko showered praise on Sergio Perez after the Mexican driver finished the race in P5 which became P4 after Lewis Hamilton's disqualification at the US Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Red Bull driver started the race from P9 after yet another disappointing qualifying Friday afternoon for the main race. However, in the race, Perez showed methodical precision as he overtook the cars in front of him and finished in the Top 5 of the race, which earned him praise from team boss Christian Horner and advisor Marko.

Speaking with Formel1, the Austrian who had been critical of Sergio Perez previously, claimed:

"From ninth on the grid, he achieved the maximum. On the medium, he drove the same lap times as Max. His racing speed was impeccable but overtaking is incredibly difficult here. His performance was satisfactory, with a clear upward trend. His entire performance over the entire weekend was satisfactory."

Sergio Perez analyzes his performance after the US GP

The Mexican driver stated that he wanted more from the race on Sunday as he accepted that he lacked consistency but showed some improved performance in the main race compared to the rest of the weekend.

As per F1.com, Sergio Perez said:

"I wanted more obviously. At times, we had a really good pace but we are still lacking that consistency. It was a hard race, the Ferrari seemed to have improved but I also think we made a good step from yesterday."

"It was quite difficult to overtake, especially because the exit of turn 11 was quite tricky as it was very windy and rough over there.

Perez continued:

"We had a few occasions where we could have undercut people, so I think we need to review that as a team. I think we know what we did wrong across the weekend, so we are really optimistic going into future races."

"We need to make sure we learn from this weekend as there are some good understandings to make for Mexico. There is a bit more pace in there and I am massively looking forward to my home Grand Prix."

This is the sort of performance and confidence booster that Sergio Perez needed heading into his home Grand Prix this weekend in Mexico City. With the support of his friends and family behind him, the Red Bull driver is expected to perform well at the weekend and possibly get another podium in front of his fans.