Sergio Perez has lashed out at the “super dangerous” end to the Sprint Shootout qualifying session from Spa-Francorchamps.
Towards the end of SQ3, Perez approached the final chicane on a lap that was massively faster than the session’s best effort but encountered several cars in his way.
With the track rapidly drying, Perez still managed to improve his lap time and jump to the top of the timesheet.
However, with the traffic in his way, he was unable to start a final attempt and was shuffled down to eighth place at the chequered flag as his rivals improved.
“It was a mess,” said Perez. “A super dangerous situation that I found myself in with one dry line and people just stopped.
“The difference in speed was huge, so really bad. I then opened my final lap on Charles’ tail so nothing I could do, I was just sitting there.
“Not good. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a good run programme in that session.”
As he looks to maximise his points amid a difficult stretch of form, Perez says that shortened race on Saturday will still provide opportunities to move forward.
“We will try,” he said when asked if he could move forward in the Sprint. “It will be another opportunity but we certainly we didn’t maximise our chances today.”
Perez’s team-mate Max Verstappen secured pole position for the Sprint, finishing just 0.011s ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
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