Amidst the buzz of Max Verstappen’s pole position and the dispute between Jos Verstappen and team boss Christian Horner, Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez experienced another disappointment on Friday. His underwhelming performance this season was overshadowed by other developments.
He finished only seventh in the qualifying round for the sprint race on Friday. The gap between him and teammate Verstappen during the sprint shootout was a whopping 1.3 seconds. This was an unforgivable lag, but Pérez didn’t seem bothered. According to him, the poor performance was not his fault.
Esteban Ocon, according to Pérez, was the reason for the disappointing sprint qualification. The French driver from Alpine was allegedly obstructing Pérez just as he was about to make his run in SQ3. “I don’t know what Esteban was doing there, he seemed to want to drive very slowly. But because of that, I didn’t stand a chance,” Pérez said.
Pérez predicts a “better day” on Saturday. This will be necessary for him, as despite his contract extension, dissatisfaction with his performance so far this season remains high, both within and outside the team.
