Sergio Perez says being caught in a battle with Charles Leclerc on his last flying lap price him sufficient time to be knocked out in SQ1 on the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Pink Bull driver was already near the drop zone when he began his last try, however had Leclerc on his inside on the run to the primary nook. Perez managed to remain forward across the outdoors and proceed his lap however his enchancment wasn’t large enough to tug him away from hazard and he ended up being eradicated by simply 0.013s.
“Sadly we left a bit of bit late,” Perez defined. “We had a problem with one of many anti-roll bars, after which to get my last lap we have been all opening gaps after which Charles got here and we have been combating into Flip 1 and so forth, so we misplaced a few tenths there.
“It was sufficient to be knocked out, which was a disgrace as a result of I assumed we actually progressed with the automotive from P1 to qualifying — we had much more potential and it’s a disgrace that we simply ended up right here.”
Ranging from sixteenth in a Dash race that doesn’t characteristic any pit stops, Perez admits it’s unlikely he’ll have the ability to pull himself into factors competition, with solely the highest eight vehicles scoring.
“I feel it’s going to be very troublesome. For now we’ll concentrate on the remainder of the weekend,” he mentioned. “In such a brief race I don’t suppose there can be so much that we are able to do. However yeah, we’ll strive.”
It additionally wasn’t a very robust session for newly topped world champion Max Verstappen within the different Pink Bull, as he certified sixth for the Dash and feels his weekend is prone to be a wrestle.
“Simply no tempo, to be trustworthy,” Verstappen mentioned. “Too sluggish — I simply don’t actually have the steadiness to assault. Entry to mid-corner the automotive is only a bit off, in order that makes it actually troublesome round there. The very excessive velocity is OK, however the whole lot else will not be OK and that makes it simply troublesome to push. I feel P6 is kind of the place we needs to be, possibly even P7 truly, however that’s after all not the place you need to be.
“The Dash, most likely will probably be powerful to battle the vehicles round me simply with the steadiness I’ve within the automotive. Then for the opposite qualifying, let’s see if we are able to enhance the scenario a bit, however I don’t all of the sudden anticipate it to be turned the other way up after which it really works. It’s not been superb, let’s say it like that.”
