Sergio Perez said he expected a difficult qualifying session after being eliminated in Q1 at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver was beaten by all his rivals except the Aston Martin pair, Williams’ Alexander Albon and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas. RB’s Liam Lawson beat him to the final place in Q2 by 68 thousandths of a second.
Red Bull have not been on the pace at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit and Perez admitted he has found the lack of grip in their car particularly challenging.
“Mainly the whole weekend I’ve been struggling quite a lot with the grip,” he said. “It’s just really difficult to put a lap together with the amount of sliding and then with the tyres not making it work. I think that’s been the most difficult one.
“I expected a very difficult qualifying and it turned out to be a quite a tough one.”
It is the sixth time this year Perez has been eliminated in Q1. His team mate Max Verstappen went on to reach Q3 for the 21st time, something Perez has only managed on 13 occasions.
“We thought we were going to have a little bit more pace than we actually did,” said Perez. “And unfortunately, like I say, it was just not enough.”
Starting from 16th on the grid, Perez faces a challenge to climb into the points in tomorrow’s race. He has not scored in either of the last two grands prix.
Yesterday Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said it was essential for Perez to contribute more to their points total in the constructors’ championship.
“From a constructors’ point of view, we desperately need both cars right up there working as a pair, which we haven’t had,” he said. “Hopefully Checo can get some strong performances in these last three races.”
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2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix
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