Sergio Perez on Max Verstappen's Shock Retirement: "Struggling The Whole Weekend"
Sergio Perez has taken the second pole position of the 2023 season for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix tomorrow making this his second pole position of his career, and his second pole at the Jeddah track.
But Max Verstappen was on the charge to get pole before reliability issues struck his car, forcing him to retire from Q2 and resulting in him starting P15 tomorrow - before Charles Leclerc's grid penalty is applied.
Talking after the race, Perez commented on Max and how he had been struggling all weekend with issues on the coveted RB19.
"It was pretty good, that Q3," he said about his qualifying lap that landed him pole. "Especially not getting that second lap. That Q1 was quite good, quite clean - really clean. Nailing that lap you really feel the Formula One cars coming alive in this place.
"And yes, maximising that lap was was very important because with the issue we had into into this final round, was really important as the track was improving."
He was then asked about his teammate and the powertrain issue that struck down his car:
"I mean, it's a shame. Max has been really struggling the whole weekend. So hopefully tomorrow we can have all both cars up there. As you never know with these cars and reliability issues can get you at any time.
This will be an important night for Red Bull as they look at why the issue occurred, but it's safe to say Perez won't be losing any sleep.