2023-11-19 00:46:46
Sergio Perez has revealed that the “wrong” strategy that contributed to his Q2 exit at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix was pre-planned with Red Bull Racing.
Perez missed out on qualifying for Q3 for the ninth time this season during F1’s first weekend at the Las Vegas Strip circuit. Perez, who completed his final run in Q2 ahead of the rest of the team, was unable to react as both Williams drivers Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen improved in the closing stages. Ta.
Perez, who ended up in 12th place, said he had made a predetermined choice not to take to the track when the evolving surface was at its most grippy.
“Before qualifying, I worked out a strategy with the team, but obviously this is an unfamiliar place and we thought regarding what would be the best program, so we decided on this route,” Perez explained. “It’s easy to see that it was the wrong decision, both before and following.”
“I was already a little lucky to get through Q1, because I mightn’t get back to the pits for the last lap. In Q2, I ended the session a little too early, as there was still some evolution on the track. I decided to go back to the pit.”
“This is a new place for us so we didn’t have high expectations, but it is what it is.”
Ahead of this weekend, drivers were already preparing for the challenge posed by the combination of recently repaved asphalt and cold track conditions.
Many teams then opted to do another warm-up with their drivers to increase tire temperatures.
“It’s not easy,” Perez points out. “Various programs were carried out in qualifying, and some teams were involved in it, and we were one of them.”
“It was getting better, but clearly the grip level wasn’t good here.
Perez admitted he was surprised to come out so early for his final run in Q2, but claimed he had struggled to extract pace from his RB19 car throughout qualifying.
“I didn’t expect it to end this quickly. But it seems like I didn’t get the ultimate tenth of a second today. So my pace was a little lacking.”
With Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz demoted 10 places on the grid due to a power unit component overload, Perez will be promoted one place to 11th for tomorrow’s race.
Red Bull usually performs stronger over the race distance than in the single qualifying lap, so Perez is optimistic he can move up the order.
“The pace in the race will be much faster than the pace in qualifying,” Perez stressed. “So I’m hopeful that that will carry us forward tomorrow.”
However, Perez believes tire degradation must be avoided in order to score high points.
“I think the degradation can be really high,” Perez said. “So I’m going to look at things tomorrow and see what I can do.”
Sergio Perez
“It was a very close qualifying session. It was a close race between cars, but we weren’t able to get the most out of the machine’s potential. We should have had a faster pace, but we mightn’t do it to the fullest, so we need to investigate the cause. Also, our running plan may not have been accurate. We finished Q2 early with 4 minutes left, and the road surface seemed to be getting better following that. Improvements are needed though. This is a result of our best effort, and we have a strong race car ready, so we should be able to aim even higher.I think DRS is very effective on the strip, so we will be patient and believe in our own pace.Tomorrow. It’s definitely going to be an interesting race.”
Category: F1 / Sergio Perez / red bull racing / F1 Las Vegas GP
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