F1 News: Sergio Perez Opens Up On Imola Qualifying Error

Sergio Perez candidly discussed his costly error during the Imola qualifying, which prevented him from advancing to Q3. The Red Bull driver attributed the mistake to a sudden increase in rear grip on new tires.

During the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Qualifying session held this weekend, Red Bull's Sergio Perez encountered a significant setback that saw him eliminated in the second qualifying session (Q2), missing the top ten shoot-out for Sunday's race start. As the grid positions were decided, a mistake on his final lap in Q2, influenced by tire management issues, proved decisive for the Mexican driver.

Perez explained during his post-qualifying interview with Sky Sports F1:

"We have been playing up and down with the car a lot. Going into Qualifying with the small margins, Q1 I started quite badly because I had a poor lap but in the end it turned out we were safe."

Entering Q2, Perez and his team opted to start on previously used tires. The decision seemed to backfire as the Mexican driver struggled to extract maximum performance initially. He continued:

"This meant we started Q2 with scrubbed tyres. Once we put the new tyre on in the second run, I surprinsgly picked up a lot of rear grip and got caught up with it."

The crucial moment of Perez's qualifying came at Turn Seven, where the newfound rear grip led to a misjudgment.

"Going into Turn Seven I went straight and lost two-and-a-half tenths."

Despite his disappointment, Perez remained optimistic about his prospects in the race, focusing on minimizing the impact on his championship standings.

"I think we made some good progress with the car, like Max showed, but unfortunately from my side I didn't get to show it in Q3.

"I think if we get a good amount of points tomorrow and minimise the damage, that will be very important."