Sergio Perez pinned his premature elimination in Sprint Qualifying at Formula 1‘s Qatar Grand Prix on an impeding incident with Charles Leclerc on his final lap in SQ1.
Perez’s disastrous spell in the Red Bull continued as he was dumped out in the opening stage at the Lusail International Circuit as he was in Las Vegas one week ago.
The Mexican was languishing in the drop zone when he began the last attempt which moved him up to 12th place, putting him under threat against those still on laps.
There would be multiple improvements elsewhere which resigned him to an exit in Q1, the seventh time in the past eight sessions he hasn’t qualified inside the top 10.
However, Perez was angered as his best run was compromised when he started it alongside Leclerc and had to brake later to ensure he cleared the Ferrari into Turn 1.
“We left a little bit late, we had an issue with one of the anti-roll bars,” Perez, who will line up for the truncated encounter in 16th place, revealed.
“Then to get my final lap, we were all opening laps and then Charles came and we were fighting in Turn 1 and so on, lost a couple of tenths there, enough to be knocked out unfortunately.
“It was a shame because I felt like we really progressed with the car from FP1 to qualifying. We had a lot more potential and it’s a shame that we just ended up here.”
Perez, who has contributed 21 points in the eight rounds since the summer break, doesn’t anticipate that he will be able to retrieve eight positions to score in the race.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult,” he said. “I think for now we will we focus on the rest of the weekend.
“In such a short race, I don’t think there will be a lot that we can do. But we will try.”
Verstappen rues balance issues
Max Verstappen managed to advance into SQ3 in the sister Red Bull, but he rued more balance issues with the RB20 as he wound up three-tenths down in sixth place.
“Yeah, just no pace to be honest,” he admitted. “Just slow.
“I don’t really have the balance to attack the entry to the corner. The car is just a bit off so it makes it really difficult around here.
“The very high speed is okay but everything else is not okay and that makes it difficult to push.
“I think P6 is more or less where we should be, maybe even P7 actually, but yeah it is not where you want to be.”
No weekend fix to Red Bull’s woes
The Dutchman has also conceded that he is not anticipating an overriding improvement to come even once set-up changes are permitted once the Sprint race is over.
“The Sprint probably will be tough to fight the cars around me with just the balance that I have in the cars,” he acknowledged.
“And then for the other qualifying, yeah let’s see if we can improve the situation a bit.
“But I don’t expect it to be suddenly… to be turned upside down and then it works. So, I don’t know. It’s not been amazing.”
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