Sergio Perez praised Force India's strategy after he claimed an unexpected third position at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Perez says the key was the timing of his first stop, from the wet to intermediate tyre, which saw him gain vital places on a circuit where track position is vital.
"It's definitely a race that you want to be on the podium in Monaco," he said. "In normal conditions we wouldn't have made it onto the podium, we don't have the pace to do it. The conditions out there were extremely difficult, so easy to make a mistake.
"Every single lap you have to be really focused in the dry, so you can imagine in those conditions. I think the key was every stop we had today. The first one I was coming into the pits for the inter tyres and then I asked how are the inter doing and they said not that good, so I guess I like to go a couple of laps more but that worked really well because we manage to jump Hulkenberg and another one, so that was really the key to our race."
Perez was one also of the biggest benefactors of the switch to slick tyres when the track dried out, during which time he got the jump on both Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel in the pit lane. Perez took on the soft tyre and showed impressive pace throughout his final stint, enough to keep Vettel at bay throughout for his third podium in as many years for Force India.
The Mexcian praised Force India for the speed of his stop.
"I was behind [Carlos] Sainz into the pits and my team did a fantastic stop so we were able to overtake him in the pit lane and then we had to wait for the moment with the last stop, going onto the slick tyre, pitting one lap before Rosberg and Vettel and managed to jump them and that was very, very good.
"It was very difficult out there on the slick tyre not to make a mistake, and then towards the end I had pressure from Vettel and I knew it was going to be very constant, so I was looking after my tyres, especially in these difficult conditions and towards the end it worked really well. It is a fantastic result for the whole team and everyone at my team deserves this one. I think we did the best job out there today, so I very, very pleased and happy."