Perez says one-stop strategy not a given in Russia

General consensus heading into the Sochi race suggests most teams will opt for just a lone stop in the race - but the Mexican, famed for his tyre conservation skills, believes that strategy won't prove viable for everyone.

"It is not that straightforward, I don’t think a lot of people will manage the one stop," said the Mexican after qualifying.

"It is going to be a tricky one, overtaking is really easy, so you can really be hurt massively with traffic.

"So, it won’t be a straightforward race. Even though in the past it was easier to do one stop, but this year it is a lot harder, [because] the cars are faster and tyres endure more."

Tyre supplier Pirelli expects one-stop strategies to prove popular, with those starting on supersofts set to pit around lap 18, while drivers starting on softs likely to come in around lap 35.

For those stopping twice, Pirelli has named supersoft/soft/soft and supersoft/supersoft/soft as the optimal strategies.

Confident of points

Perez, having qualified seventh, will start sixth in the race due to Sebastian Vettel's penalty - and the Mexican hopes that will be enough for him to to come away with his first points of the season.

"It will be tough, as we are ahead of Toro Rosso, who are quicker than us at the moment, and we also have one of the Red Bulls [behind].

"And then one of the Ferrari and Mercedes, so it is not going to be easy to be in points, but I am confident that we have to come away with some points.

"Hopefully, we can have a strong afternoon, manage the tyre degradation well, and with the changes we have done to the cars, it can improve our long run pace."

Regarding his qualifying performance, Perez said: "I think we managed to put a perfect lap. It is very difficult to put a lap together [in Sochi], it is a unique place.

"When you see Nico Rosberg, he could have done half a second quicker than what he did.

"It shows the importance of putting a lap together, knowing which lap to put whether it is the first one or third one or fifth one, it is something difficult."

Additional reporting by Adam Cooper and Jonathan Noble