"I don’t know what Leclerc and Ferrari were doing" - Sergio Perez blames rivals for his poor 2022 F1 Brazilian GP qualifying

Yesterday's qualifying session ahead of the Sprint Race for the 2022 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix saw Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez left fuming with Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and the Maranello-based team's decision-making.

In a session that saw changeable weather conditions with a constant threat of rain, Leclerc managed to block Perez's fastest attempt at setting up the grid when he was left out on track on the green-sidewalled intermediate tires by his team on the pit wall.

Q3 saw the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace rapidly dry up after touch-and-go conditions during the first two sessions, with reports of more rain on the way. Taking a gamble on the forecast, Charles Leclerc was sent out on track on the inters. He turned out to be the sole car with those tires on the track, with the rest of the field running on the soft compound tire. Sergio Perez found himself in the unfortunate position of tailing the Ferrari, which struggled to work its tires on a dry track, ultimately relegating him to P9 in the session.

The Red Bull Racing driver spoke about the incident once he got out of his car and said:

“It was unfortunate, I don’t know what Leclerc and Ferrari were doing, it was very clear he was too slow on the inters on the out-lap and I thought he was going to box. It was quite obvious to me he would box and get onto the slick tyres, but then he just stayed in front and I did my lap just behind him and unfortunately, that meant I have lost too much.”

Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc will start Sunday's Grand Prix on the fifth row of the grid, in P9 and P10 respectively.

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Charles Leclerc elaborates on his incident with Sergio Perez during 2022 F1 Brazilian GP qualifying

Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc elaborated on his qualifying performance which saw him try the intermediate tires in Q3. This resulted in him blocking Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez as the Monegasque struggled to keep pace with the rest of the field.

The 25-year-old spoke on the team's strategy after getting out of his car and said:

"We were expecting some rain which never came. I'll speak with the team and try and understand what we can do better in those conditions, but extremely disappointed, the pace was there."

The grid for the Sprint race tomorrow will see both drivers start from the fifth row, while Haas F1 team's Kevin Magnussen celebrates his first career pole position.