Sergio Perez enjoyed a “tremendous” race in the United States Grand Prix after finishing in the points, having started from the pitlane.

Perez was forced to start from the pitlane after picking up a penalty in Friday free practice when he missed a call to head to the weighbridge.

Although it was an unintentional mix-up and Racing Point took his car to the weighbridge as soon as they realised, the team had already changed his tyres meaning there was no other choice for the stewards, other than to award him a pitlane start.

But despite being handicapped at the start of the race, Perez was successful in completing a one-stop strategy, and worked his way up through the field to finish 10th, despite being hit by Kvyat on the final lap of the race.

“We had a tremendous race today and we managed to recover well as a team.” commented Perez after the race.

“We used a very aggressive one-stop strategy and had good pace all afternoon.

“On the final lap, Kvyat crashed into me and damaged my front wing, but he was penalised and we took back the tenth place.”

The point scored by Perez means Racing Point overtook Toro Rosso for sixth place in the constructor’s championship, and Racing Point Team Principal, Otmar Szafnauer, was happy that they could score a point after a difficult weekend.

“Seeing Sergio race from the pit lane to a points finish is a satisfying end to a challenging afternoon.” added Szafnauer.

“It wasn’t easy to make the one-stop race work, but Sergio did a fantastic job to look after the Hard tyres and maintain good pace for 31 laps.

“Things got a bit messy on the final lap when Kvyat made contact, but justice prevailed as the stewards reinstated Sergio into a well-deserved tenth place.”