Sergio Perez from Mexico, racing for Red Bull Racing, had a challenging qualifying session at the Chinese Grand Prix in Formula 1. Perez had to make a compromise with his car’s set-up after the Sprint race, which resulted in a messy qualifying session. Despite showing promising pace in wet conditions earlier in the weekend, Perez was unable to match his teammate Max Verstappen’s performance and secure pole position. Perez struggled from the beginning of the qualifying session and narrowly avoided elimination in Q1, finishing in 15th place. However, he managed to progress to the top-10 shootout and eventually secured a front-row lock-out for Red Bull, albeit three-tenths slower than Verstappen. Perez acknowledged that his first run in Q3 was not good, which put him at a disadvantage. He felt that the cooler tires and adjustments to the front wing affected his performance. Fortunately, the track conditions improved for his final run, allowing him to put together a good lap. Overall, Perez described the qualifying session as messy, starting from Q1 where he almost got knocked out. He also faced traffic issues with the Williams car during his first attempt and had to return to the pit. Perez felt out of position for most of the time and emphasized the importance of being on the track at the right time to adapt to the changing wind and learn from the new conditions.
Perez took advantage of the dispute between Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso in the final stages to move from sixth to third place in the Sprint race, trailing behind Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
With the new format allowing for changes in setup due to the lifting of parc ferme restrictions, Perez revealed that his team made significant modifications to his RB20.
“We made numerous adjustments to adapt to the new conditions effectively, as Max mentioned. The change in wind has had a considerable impact,” Perez explained.
“Given that this circuit has low grip, a shift in wind conditions affects it more than other places. So, we learned a lot from the conditions earlier in the Sprint race and made the necessary adjustments. It was important for me to understand them.”
Perez shared that the higher-than-expected degradation in race-trim prompted the alterations on his side, which he believes affected the balance of his car during qualifying.
“We struggled a lot with tire and rear degradation. Therefore, it was crucial to create a more stable platform. However, this comes at a cost, as it requires compromises in different types of corners,” he elaborated.
“I couldn’t quite grasp the conditions well. My first proper lap was in Q2, run two, and my first run in Q3 was quite far from ideal. So, it wasn’t the smoothest qualifying session, but it’s still a positive outcome for tomorrow.”