In the qualifying session in Monaco, Sergio Perez was outpaced by Williams driver Logan Sargeant in Q1.
Sergio Perez has described his Monaco Grand Prix qualifying session as “a total disaster” after the Red Bull driver failed to reach Q3 for the second race in succession.
Having managed only 11th in qualifying at Imola last weekend, Perez fell in Q1 for the first time in the F1 2024 season with the Mexican lining up 18th for Sunday’s race in Monte Carlo.
Sergio Perez out in Q1 at Monaco Grand Prix
Sergio Perez finished ahead of Sauber drivers, Valtteri Bottas, and Zhou Guanyu, but was 0.040 seconds slower than Williams driver Logan Sargeant.
Perez’s team-mate, reigning three-time World Champion Max Verstappen, could only manage sixth on the grid with Red Bull struggling again in Monaco.
Perez attributed his inability to advance beyond the initial qualifying stage to the congestion at the hairpin section. However, he acknowledged that both he and the Red Bull team have faced challenges in optimizing the performance of the RB20 car.
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In an interview with Sky F1, he expressed, “Throughout the entire weekend, we have encountered significant difficulties.”
“We have been struggling to fully understand and manage our progress with the car.”
“We have undergone numerous changes recently, causing us to struggle to find our rhythm during qualifying. As a result, we were initially quite far behind.”
“As I approached my final lap, everything seemed to be going well. However, just as I was entering Turn 6, I unexpectedly encountered traffic that continued into Turn 7. Unfortunately, those precious few tenths of a second I lost were sufficient to cause me to miss out on my goal.”
“I believe I missed P1 by just half a second, indicating that the competition was incredibly intense.”
Perez stated that if he hadn’t encountered traffic on his final Q1 lap, they would have definitely made it to Q3.
“If the margins were not so narrow, achieving the perfect lap would have had a significant impact on the [result].”
“We managed to achieve a top five position, or something similar, during this morning’s FP3 session.”
“A total disaster.”
After emerging victorious in the Monaco Grand Prix of 2022, Perez encountered a setback during the previous year’s Q1 in Monte Carlo. His qualifying session abruptly ended as he crashed at Ste Devote only a few minutes into the race.
Perez’s mid-season slump, triggered by that mistake, led to a series of five races where he failed to make it to Q3. Consequently, he found himself in a tough battle to retain his Red Bull seat.
He is currently 34 years old and is in the last year of his current contract with Red Bull.
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