Pérez Blames Early Qualifying Struggles for P8 Grid Slot in Austria

It was one other powerful day for Oracle Pink Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez as he may solely qualify eighth on the grid for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Whereas his teammate, Max Verstappen, was lighting up the timing boards to set pole place, Pérez was struggling to even make it by way of into the ultimate a part of qualifying and when he did make it there, he may solely handle eighth because of solely having a used set of soppy compound tyres accessible to make use of.

Pérez hasn’t had a simple weekend up to now – solely with the ability to end eighth within the Dash to attain a singular level. The Mexican driver got here into qualifying needing consequence to allow him to have the prospect of preventing for a podium and alongside his teammate, however as soon as once more he was a giant margin away from Verstappen, who’s on pole place as soon as once more.

Since resigning with Pink Bull in Montreal, Pérez has secured simply 5 factors from two race weekends and Saturday’s Dash, leaving lot’s to be desired on his facet of the storage. The 34-year-old had bother early within the session, and had to make use of additional units of tyres to progress in qualifying, leaving him with simply used units within the high ten shootout, which finally led to a most end of eighth. 

Whereas the race on Sunday could give him an opportunity to progress, his race tempo within the Dash on Saturday morning was lack compared to the Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Group.

Talking to F1TV, Pérez stated: “Effectively it did, however unfourtanetly we didn’t have the margins early on in qualifying, every thing so was tight. Unfourtantely we used extra tyres than we wished and we arrived into Q3 with none tyres. 

“Given how the margins had been, we had been 4 tenths from P2 and I used to be on a scrubbed tyre so I believe at present we may’ve finished so much higher however unfourtantely we weren’t secure sufficient to save lots of a set into Q2.

“Every part goes to be actually shut on the market tomorrow however it is going to be an fascinating battle.”