Sergio Perez reckons he could have won Sunday's Malaysian GP had it not been for a small error in the closing stages.
With the rain bucketing down at the Sepang circuit, the race was suspended on lap nine with Perez in third place.
50 minutes later it resumed and Perez, known for getting the most out of his tyres, worked his way up into second from where he set about chasing down Fernando Alonso.
While others began to struggle with their tyres in drying conditions, Perez put in fastest lap after fastest lap, closing the gap to within a second.
Right on Alonso's rear wing, the message came for him to "be careful" as Sauber "need this position."
Moments later Perez ran wide and although he managed to avoid serious damage, the gap to Alonso was up to five seconds and the victory was out of reach.
"I think so, I definitely think so," the 22-year-old said when asked if the win was on the cards.
"I was catching Fernando through the end of the race.
"I knew I had to get him soon because in all the high-speed corners I was losing my front tyres running behind him.
"Then I ran wide in the quick left-hander. I touched the kerb and I went onto the dirty side of the track. It was completely wet and I lost the win.
"It was very difficult to catch Fernando but the win was possible.
"The pace was fantastic, I was very quick."
The Mexican paid homage to his team, thanking Sauber for the hard work that allowed him to secure his first-ever F1 podium.
"Many thanks to the team they have done a great job," he said.
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