Red Bull admitted it made a key mistake that doomed Sergio Perez to a poor qualifying result.
One-lap speed has been the Mexican’s weakness this year and the source of many of his difficulties. And, once again, he couldn’t even make it to Q3 at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. But this time, the team had to take much of the blame.
The track was constantly improving, which meant that the fastest laps would be set at the end of each part of the session. But Red Bull bet that Pérez would be better off getting his Q2 out of traffic and thus getting back on the track. that the others.
But it didn’t pay off. Although he sits comfortably in the most sensible 10 after setting his time. He returned to the pits and stood there helplessly while, one by one, his rivals continued to overtake him until he found himself in 12th place on the timesheets.
Fans on social media blamed Red Bull for the mistake, adding that several agreed that Perez had been “stitched through” the team. Speaking after the session, team principal Christian Horner mentioned the team’s mistake.
“He left a little early,” explained the 50-year-old pilot. “In qualifying we only used 3 sets of soft tires. To check this and avoid getting stuck in traffic on the last lap, he turned a little early and only a tenth from the edge.
“We knew this was our strategy from the beginning. It’s a new track and we were surprised. We were already missing Q1 and there were a lot of things to talk about internally. Tomorrow will be an attractive race with a lot of things to happen. “. “
The Las Vegas Strip has been remodeled into an F1 circuit for a weekend of action as the 2023 season draws to a close. With the second longest circuit on the calendar and a new surface, there will be a lot of unknowns and you’ll be able to see them all. the action on Sky Sports.
Perez himself supported this suggestion that the strategy had been planned in advance, but regretted that the team had given it and admitted that he expected a much greater result.
He said: “We had a strategy before qualifying with the team and obviously we don’t know this position and we were thinking about what the most productive programme was and we went down that path. Obviously, before that, after that, it’s less. “It’s hard to know what the call was.
“Already in Q1 we were a bit fortunate to qualify because we couldn’t do our last lap back to the pits, and then in Q2, simply completing the consultation too early meant there was still some evolution on track. It’s a new position for us, so I didn’t expect it yet, that’s just the way it is.
Get email updates on the day’s highlights