Sergio Perez said that so much has happened in his debut Formula One season that it "feels like three years" to him.

12084 - 'One year feels like three' - Perez

Perez goes in to the final race of the season just one point behind Sebastien Buemi in the drivers' championship and with the aim of holding on to sixth place in the constructors' for Sauber. While admitting that he would like to finish the season on a high, Perez said that he felt he had "learnt a lot" in his debut year and has improved with every race.

"It will be the final grand prix of my rookie season in Formula One," Perez said. "To me this year feels like three years because so much has happened, including my accident in Monaco. However, I think it was a good season. I learnt a lot and was getting better and better with every race. Considering the fact that I had to miss two races in which the car and the team performed very well, I really think I can be happy with what I have achieved so far. Without doubt I am determined to finish this season, which I will personally never forget, on a high."

Sauber technical director James Key agreed that a positive end to the year would be to score points and hold on to sixth place, but admitted that picking the right setup at Interlagos can be a challenge.

"Obviously we want to extract the most out of the race in view of our championship position, and, of course, we want to score points there," Key said. "Sao Paulo is one of these circuits that doesn't have an obvious optimum wing level. There are two strategies, one which is a higher downforce setting where the middle of the lap is better optimised, and the other one is a lower downforce setting which is better for the long straight up the hill through to turn one and then the second straight down to turn four. That will cause a little bit of work on the wing level, both from a strategic and also the lap time point of view."