The first weekend after Max Verstappen’s celebrations for his fourth world title has not started well for Red Bull. The Dutchman was very dissatisfied with the 6th place he achieved in the Sprint qualifying session for the Qatar Grand Prix—a result far below expectations, with the newly crowned champion once again the team’s sole representative in Q3.
For the fourth consecutive time, Sergio Perez failed to reach the final session, finishing 16th. This marks another instance where the Mexican driver has failed to advance past Q1, a scenario that has occurred six times this season. This result not only complicates his chances of recovery for tomorrow’s Sprint but also raises further doubts about his future at Red Bull, despite his contract running until 2026.
After the session, ‘Checo’ expressed deep disappointment with the outcome of qualifying in Lusail, highlighting a wheel-to-wheel moment with Charles Leclerc during his fast lap, which he believes was decisive in preventing him from improving his performance. “To get my last lap in, we were all trying to create gaps, and Charles passed,” he explained. “We were fighting for space into Turn 1, and I lost a couple of tenths, enough to knock me out, unfortunately. It’s a shame because I think we improved the car a lot from FP1 to Sprint qualifying, and there’s much more potential. I think it will be tough to make a big leap tomorrow, so we’ll focus on the rest of the weekend. In such a short race, I don’t think there’s much we can do, but we’ll give it our all.”
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