Sergio Pérez showed frustration at dropping from fourth to 13th on the grid of the sprint race in Austria due to the track limit penalty, but acknowledged that it was not the only problem of the day. The Mexican driver still didn't find himself with the car at the Red Bull Ring
Sergio Pérez will start from a very modest 13th place in the sprint race at the Austrian GP. This Friday (8), the Mexican was the pivot of another controversial decision by the F1 race direction. After he escaped the limits of the track on his fastest lap in Q2, Checo was not investigated on the spot by the stewards, who left to make a decision hours after the end of qualifying. And so Pérez dropped from fourth to 13th.
The Mexican driver began by explaining that he simply could not adapt well to the car at the Red Bull Ring. And that the whole day was one of ups and downs in performance.
"It was a complicated day, things didn't feel right in TL1 and not even in qualifying, we need to understand what was wrong, we hope to recover for tomorrow. I wasn't able to get into a rhythm at any point, my car was changing behavior very quickly, all the time," he said.
Disappointed with the punishment, Pérez took the opportunity to criticize the race direction for not deleting his lap on time, allowing him to at least try to improve his spin before the end of Q2.
"It's frustrating to lose fourth place, the track limits are very strict here, but it's more frustrating that my team was not informed that they were going to delete my lap during Q2. We have the sprint race tomorrow to gain ground and then a long race on Sunday, so it's just a matter of staying calm and progressing to be in a good position on Sunday," he added.
Pérez is in second place in the championship with 147 points, 34 behind teammate Max Verstappen, who takes pole on Saturday.
GRANDE PRÊMIO follows LIVE and INREAL TIME all the activities of the Austrian GP weekend. The sprint race is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. (GMT-3) on Saturday.