Breaking: Trouble for Sergio Perez before the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP?

Things are looking a bit shaky down the Red Bull garage after Sergio Perez's car was spotted surrounded by engineers ahead of the race, apparently working on it. There is a possibility of some trouble after what his teammate faced during the qualifying session.

Although Perez was fast enough to pull his car into pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, there seems to be some trouble ahead of the race. According to an update, the mechanics were seen working around the 11-number RB-19 with the car's engine started. Everyone was seen in a rush, pointing towards some issues that the team might have faced.

By the looks of it, this could turn out to be a weekend not in Red Bull's favour. Max Verstappen, during the Q2 session earlier, had an engine issue on his hotlap and then had to roll back into his garage, ultimately retiring his car.

This ruined the qualifying session for him and he will be starting P15. However, Sergio Perez kept the hopes for the team up after he qualified first, creating a small gap between Charles Leclerc and further from Fernando Alonso.

However, with the engineers working on his car, an issue is surely not what the team is looking for ahead of the race.

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Can Sergio Perez fulfil Red Bull's expectations for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?

Sergio Perez

With Max Verstappen starting further down on P15 and Sergio Perez starting on pole, it is quite obvious that the team's hopes would be centered around the Mexican.

While Verstappen would be expected to gain as many places as possible, Perez will have to put everyone behind him in order to gain victory.

However, because of the (possible) issue that the team is working on, reliability could turn out to be a disaster for the team.

During the past season as well, the team suffered from the same during the first three rounds of the season. Since nothing is confirmed as of now, there could still be a flattering performance from Perez. He is known to be extremely good on the street circuits (which justifies his victory during the Monaco and Singapore Grand Prix of 2022).

At the same time, for Max Verstappen, he will have to face the best teams on the grid to get close to victory. Charles Leclerc will be starting from P12 after a 10-place grid penalty for changing his CU, so there could possibly be a lot to keep an eye out for during the race.