On the track where he earned the nickname “Minister of Defense” in 2021 for his obstructive moves against Lewis Hamilton during a critical phase of the race, Sergio Perez had a subdued end to his 2024 qualifying season—possibly his last ever in a Red Bull car. The Mexican managed to avoid elimination in Q1 and Q2, something that has happened far too often this year, but he burned through too many sets of soft tires to do so. In Q3, Perez could only manage 10th, setting himself up for a challenging start from the fifth row in tomorrow’s GP.
“I think reaching Q3 with only one set of new tires cost us dearly,” Sergio Perez said at the end of the session. “We lost a set in Q1 when my first lap was deleted, and then we were informed too late that it had been reinstated, by which point I was already out on a new set. It was an unfortunate episode that compromised the session. On single-lap pace, we struggled, and once again, we had a really tough balance—it’s an issue we’ve been dealing with for a while.”
“Qualifying has been the hardest part of my season, and today was no different,” the Mexican concluded. “The main goal is to have a good race tomorrow, and I think we’ll be able to fight from the position we’re starting. We have good race pace, but it’s going to be tough. Degradation will probably be an issue, so it’ll be an interesting race,” added Red Bull’s #11.
Leave a Reply