Perez Blames Tyres for Massive Qualifying Defeat to Verstappen in Austria
In a qualification round at the Red Bull Ring that left fans and analysts puzzled, Sergio Perez has come forward with an explanation for his considerable gap to team-mate Max Verstappen. Perez insists that his eighth-place finish and over eight-tenths of a second deficit to Verstappen's pole position were not truly reflective of his pace.
The Mexican driver’s frustration was palpable as he detailed the challenges that hindered his performance. Unlike Verstappen, Perez was forced to use worn rubber during the all-critical Q3 segment, putting him at a significant disadvantage.
Perez's Struggles: A Closer Look
Perez found himself lagging as the slowest driver from the championship's front quartet. However, he attributed this to tyre management issues earlier in the qualifying, which saw him use up more sets than his competitors.
“It was everything so tight that unfortunately we ended up using more tyres than we wanted, and we arrived into Q3 without any tyres, given how the margins were,” Perez explained, bemoaning his early lack of speed. Such a scenario left him without fresh tyres for his final Q3 run.
How Far Off Was Perez?
Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, it’s worth noting that Perez’s gap from Lando Norris' McLaren, which secured second place, was less than half a second. “I think it was four-tenths from P2, and I was on a scrub tyre, so I think today we could have done a lot better,” Perez said, reflecting on the missed opportunity.
The bigger picture shows that Perez’s tyre issues were compounded by the narrow margins in the opening stages of qualifying. This often leads to more conservative strategies, which sometimes can backfire as they did here.
Optimism for the Main Event
Saturday’s truncated Sprint didn’t go much better for Perez, who slipped from seventh to eighth place behind Charles Leclerc. Yet the seasoned driver is optimistic about making headway in the main race.
“I think it’s going to be everything really close out there tomorrow, so it will be an interesting battle, I think, tomorrow,” Perez offered, eyeing opportunities to climb past Ferraris, McLarens, and Mercedes ahead of him.
Team Principal’s Perspective
Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, echoed the necessity for Perez to bridge the gap to Verstappen. With rising competition from rival teams, Red Bull can't afford such divides between its drivers.
“We’re doing our best to support him and to find out what it is that's missing because the first four or five races were very competitive,” Horner said. He recounted Perez’s commendable performance in earlier races, illustrating that the driver has the potential to be much closer to Verstappen.
Horner continued, “Whatever has happened that has caused him to drop off… Suzuka, one of the toughest tracks in the world and a real driver circuit, he was a tenth of a second off Max. Here, with nine corners, the gap is obviously significantly greater.”
As the race weekend progresses, all eyes will be on Perez to see if he can recover from this qualifying setback and deliver a strong performance when it counts the most.