Sergio Perez thinks his performance at the Singapore Grand Prix, where he stretched out a soft tyre stint for over half the race, was "one of his best" in Formula One.

Perez started 18th after being hit with a combined eight-place grid drop for multiple infractions under the yellow flag in qualifying. Despite his low start he still started on the ultra-soft tyre as he had made it through to Q3, but a first-lap Safety Car allowed him to immediately stop for the soft - the hardest compound in Pirelli's range for the weekend.

Perez stopped for another set of softs on lap 25 which he managed to stretch out until the end of the 61-lap race, by which time he had climbed to eighth position.

"It was a special effort from myself," Perez said. "I think it's my one of my best performances in Formula One, to manage these soft tyres for 36 laps.

"I'm so pleased with how the race went, that we managed to secure the points. We're ahead of Williams, which we needed to do. It was a very difficult race out there but we did an extremely good job."

The Pirelli chart below shows how different Perez's strategy was to those around him:

Pirelli Motorsport

Perez's points helped Force India edge back in front of Williams in the battle for fourth position. Perez's teammate Nico Hulkenberg was spun into the pit wall at the start and retired, but Williams drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas both finished outside of the points-paying positions.