“We got to understand the reason”: Sergio Perez reacts after a ‘very frustrating’ P16 finish in F1 Canadian Grand Prix qualifying

Sergio Perez lamented his frustrating Canadian GP qualifying session, where he got knocked out of Q1. Speaking to onsite media in Montreal, the Red Bull Racing driver claimed that the car lacked pure pace around the circuit.

Apart from FP2, Sergio Perez was struggling to extract the maximum out of the RB20 around the Montreal circuit. With teammate Max Verstappen ending a practice session on Friday with ERS issues, the Mexican driver looked in a better position. Nevertheless, he has been knocked out of Q1 for the third weekend in a row. Known for being a tire whisperer, the 34-year-old is rarely known to not manage his tires during a race. However, in Canada, he was far away from his Dutch teammate who matched the pole position time.

Asked about the frustrating qualifying session, Sergio Perez said:

“Yeah, it's a massive frustration. I think it was a session where everything resettled with the weather and we just couldn't get everything to work, especially the rear axle. I think it was a very strange session for a lot of cars out there and we did struggle quite a lot with the rear end. So I think we've got to understand the reason behind it.”

On whether they could have changed anything on the car between practice sessions and qualifying, he added:

“I think in hindsight there are things we could have done better, but fundamentally we were lacking some pace today

Asked how much the rear-end limitations were an issue compared to the track evolution, Sergio Perez said:

“I think the track being so green it really reset things up but I was struggling to put the temperature into the tire and I think that was the main struggle.”

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Sergio Perez feels the need to introspect performance issues in the past few weekends

Sergio Perez suggests that the reasons for his struggles in the last few weekends are unknown. He was not able to explain whether it was the car evolving away from him, similar to his woes in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. When the Red Bull Racing cars evolved around the European leg of the calendar, the Mexican driver’s performances would trail off. Similar to the past seasons, there has been both a qualifying and race performance gap building between the Milton Keynes duo. Qualifying 16th for the race, the 34-year-old could make up places in the race as long as he can get on top of the pace issues.

Asked if there were concerns about the car evolving away from him, Sergio Perez said:

“I'll say that the past couple of weekends were difficult and this one's been troubling as well. Yeah, I think we got some bits to understand and hopefully, we get through tomorrow and we are able to secure a couple of points, that will be a good result, and then really just go from there.”

Asked whether he can redeem himself in the race unlike Monaco where it is difficult to overtake, he said:

“Yeah definitely, I believe that we are able to come through it. We just have to understand the issue and really go from there.”

Asked about Red Bull’s downward trajectory in the past few weekends, Sergio Perez said:

“I think, I mean, when you look at the Ferraris, they were on pole in Monaco and you know, I think this track is not very different to that. So I think it's a long season, you know, it will only matter where we finish in Abu Dhabi. There will be very different tracks coming up, but like I said, I think we have got some fundamental issue today, that we have to understand and come back at it.”

Red Bull Racing have been far away from their invincible edge in the last few race weekends in terms of car performance. Sergio Perez felt that the issues are track specific and the result in the Abu Dhabi GP at the end of the year is the one that matters. At the moment, their rivals Ferrari and McLaren have been poised to beat the Milton Keynes squad and fight for the championship. The Achilles heel of their car which makes them struggle at circuits with bumpy surfaces has started to hurt them more than what they expected. Their upgrades in Imola did not give them a significant leap in performance and their next due for upgrades are in Spain. Nevertheless, after signing a two-year contract extension with Red Bull, the former Force India driver is under pressure to deliver in a year where there are four cars apart from his teammate to beat.