Sergio Perez says Racing Point must be braced for a “painful” loss of ground in the fight for third in the Constructors’ Championship after a problematic Saturday at the Nürburgring.
Racing Point is locked in a tight three-way battle for third in the standings, just two points behind McLaren, and only five clear of Renault.
Perez qualified a low-key ninth at the Nürburgring while the team’s prospects were handed an additional blow due to Lance Stroll’s illness.
The sister RP20 did not run throughout final practice and will start from the back of the grid in the hands of Nico Hulkenberg, who was a late stand-in for the unwell Stroll.
“It all changed very quickly with Lance not coming in this morning, I could see some stress in the team, I didn’t really know what was happening,” said Perez.
“I hope health wise Lance is okay and we can have him back soon.
“For Nico as well it was tough to jump straight into qualifying so yeah it isn’t looking great for tomorrow having both Renaults there, the Ferrari, it can be a painful day in the championship tomorrow.”
Perez will start directly behind McLaren rival Lando Norris on the grid while both Renault drivers will line up ahead, after Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon classified sixth and seventh respectively.
“I think we should definitely be higher up, we messed up a bit with our strategy,” he said.
“We only had one set [of tyres] in Q3 and I reckon the track changed a lot in that final run, the wind picked up a lot, the balance was pretty bad and unfortunately I only had one set.
“I went through on a single set of Softs so we could run a bit better in that regard but these conditions whenever it is windy it can hurt us quite a bit.”
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