What Happened to Sergio Perez Today?: Red Bull Star Suffers Disaster in Monaco GP Qualifying

Sergio Perez, the winner of last year’s Monaco GP will start nowhere near the front of the grid this time after he spun his RB19 in the first corner and crashed out of the session. This brought out the red flag, and once again, affected the qualifying runs of other drivers.

This isn’t the first time Perez crashed during qualifying in Monaco either. Last year, the Mexican driver was in P3, when a controversial ‘mistake’ saw him hit the barriers right before entering the tunnel section.

Thankfully for him, the consequences of his crashing weren’t as severe. Perez went on to win the 2022 Monaco GP ahead of Carlos Sainz and his teammate Max Verstappen.  This time, however, even entering the points will be seemingly difficult for the 33-year-old.

How did Sergio Perez crash in Monaco?

Perez and Verstappen looked fast during FP3 on Saturday, which made the Milton-Keynes-based outfit the favorite to secure a front-row lockout. The Guadalajara-born driver was just seven tenths of a second behind Verstappen in FP2, where he finished second.

🚩 RED FLAG 🚩

Perez is STOPPED out on track after sliding into the barriers

Driver is okay, but he’s out of Qualifying! 😳#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Z7w1mnptWt

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023

Perez went off to a good start during Q1 in Monaco, putting in a decent lap time. However, as he began pushing for his second flying lap, he crashed into the barriers at Saint Devote.

📻 Checo: “F****. I crashed, I crashed.”

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 27, 2023

The left rear of his RB19 hit the barriers quite hard, which broke the suspension, and his car spun momentarily before coming to a halt on the track. Fortunately, Perez was unharmed, but was disappointed in himself.

Checo’s back in the garage. He’s okay. We’ll assess the damage and get him sorted for tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/pOPyp7cYMI

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 27, 2023

Red Bull will now be relying only on Max Verstappen to get in a strong result in qualifying. The Dutchman will be expected to get pole position in the principality, and guide Red Bull to their third straight win in Monte Carlo.