Sergio Perez‘s on-track woes continue just days after his two-year Red Bull contract extension. During qualifying in Canada, the Mexican got knocked out of Q1 and will start Sunday’s race from 16th on the grid. Red Bull was predicted to struggle, but Max Verstappen showed that the car had what it takes to start on the front row. Helmut Marko acknowledged that Perez has to find the answers to this disasterclass himself, but unlike previous years, the Red Bull bosses are supporting him instead of taking a demoralizing approach.
Marko feels that Perez’s struggles in Canada were more ‘psychological’, owing to the change in conditions. However, he asserts that Perez wasn’t too far off getting out of Q1. “It was close. And when the conditions change, he finds it much more difficult,” said Marko, per Motorsport.
Contrasting fortunes in Q1 Checo is knocked out of Qualifying, finishing the session in P16.
Max advances through to Q2.#F1 || #CanadianGP
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 8, 2024
Team Principal Christian Horner meanwhile, brings the RB20 and its performance into the equation. He feels that Perez struggled with grip, and the team will work on it before the 34-year-old suits up for the Grand Prix on Sunday. “We’ll have to look into the reasons for that. So that we can give him the best chance of coming through the field tomorrow. Which we know he’s capable of.”
Perez, however, isn’t going easy on himself. He knows he has lofty expectations to live up to, especially because Red Bull (arguably the sport’s top team) will have him for two more seasons.
What Sergio Perez had to say about his Canadian GP qualifying result
Perez has failed to make it out of Q1 in two consecutive races now. However, unlike the previous outing (Monaco), he was agonizingly close to making it to Q2 this time around. He missed out on the top 15 by just 0.037 seconds. Adding to the pain and disappointment for Perez and the team.
In the post-qualifying press conference, he blamed himself. “There are some fundamental issues that we need to address, understand, and figure out. To make sure we are able to improve in the coming races. I am angry with myself; we are a team and it is not an ideal time for us, but we have full focus on tomorrow and hopefully, we are able to save something and score some points.”
️ | Checo is angry at himself for the lack of pace in qualifying
“There are some fundamental issues that we need to address, understand, and figure out, to make sure we are able to improve in the coming races.
I am angry with myself; we are a team and it is not an ideal… pic.twitter.com/GXiCsHX9Zo
— RBR News (@redbulletin) June 8, 2024
The Red Bull car certainly has pace. Verstappen was able to put it on the front row and will start behind pole-sitter George Russell. Whether Verstappen overperformed with the RB20, or whether the car is fast, however, will be seen only once the race pace is put on display on Sunday.
