“Tomorrow will be a difficult race”– Red Bull chief dejected after seeing Sergio Perez’s elimination in Q2

Tanish Chachra | 20/11/2021
"It will be an interesting race" - Sergio Perez expects qualifying to be the deciding factor in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko predicts a tough race for his team as Max Verstappen remains alone at the front of the grid against Mercedes.

Red Bull’s performance on Saturday didn’t deliver a convincing output. Max Verstappen sees himself alone at the front of the grid after fetching P2.

Meanwhile, his teammate Sergio Perez would be starting the race at P11. Therefore, it would be easy for Mercedes to overwhelm Verstappen, with the Silver Arrows clearly showing better pace.

Mercedes’ duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas picked the pole and P3 by the end of qualifying, giving Verstappen no breathing space for the race.

The Mexican would be busy clearing the midfield at Losail before contributing a significant amount of points to Red Bull. Seeing this, the Red Bull adviser believes that the race on Sunday would be difficult for them.

Also read: McLaren team principal is not happy with how FIA let Max Verstappen go unpunished

The qualifying was an ache for Red Bull

For Verstappen, qualifying was a hugely complex task. He even cites Perez failing to enter Q3 to validate his woes on Saturday against Mercedes.

“Checo is not even in Q3 so it definitely shows we are struggling a bit more than normal. But nevertheless it’s still second, so it’s all to play for. But I wish we could have fought for more,” said Verstappen during the post-qualifying interview.

It has also been reported that Hamilton was running on the older engine in qualifying. Thus, it would only make him even more lethal for the race on Sunday.

How will Red Bull overcome the odds is remained to be seen. But if things stay the same, it would be a calamity to the Milton-Keynes-based team’s championship prospects.

Also read: Jos Verstappen thinks Mercedes should be investigated by the FIA for their ‘tremendous straight line speed’

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Max Verstappen Mercedes Red Bull Sergio Perez

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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