Sergio Perez, from Mexico, racing for Red Bull Racing, had a challenging qualifying session at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix. Perez had to make a compromise with his car setup after the Sprint race, which resulted in a confusing qualifying session. Despite showing promising pace in wet conditions early in the weekend, Perez couldn’t match the performance of his teammate Max Verstappen and secure pole position. Perez struggled from the start of the qualifying session and narrowly escaped elimination in Q1, finishing in 15th place. However, he managed to advance to the top-ten shootout and ended up securing a Red Bull front row lockout, even though he was three tenths slower than Verstappen. Perez acknowledged that his first lap in Q3 was not good, putting him at a disadvantage. He felt that colder tires and adjustments to the front wing affected his performance. Luckily, track conditions improved on his final lap, allowing him to put in a good lap. Overall, Perez described the qualifying session as confusing, starting from Q1 where he almost got eliminated. He also faced traffic issues with the Williams car during his first attempt and had to return to the pits. Perez felt out of position most of the time and emphasized the importance of being on track at the right time to adapt to the changing wind and learn from the new conditions.
Perez took advantage of the battle between Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso in the final laps to move from sixth to third place in the Sprint race, finishing behind Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
With the new format allowing changes to the setup due to the end of parc fermé restrictions, Perez revealed that his team made significant modifications to his RB20.
« Nous avons apporté de nombreux ajustements pour nous adapter efficacement aux nouvelles conditions, comme l’a mentionné Max. Le changement de vent a eu un impact considérable », a expliqué Perez.
« Étant donné que ce circuit a une faible adhérence, un changement dans les conditions de vent affecte plus qu’ailleurs. Nous avons donc beaucoup appris des conditions en début de course Sprint et avons effectué les ajustements nécessaires. Il était important pour moi de les comprendre. »
Perez a partagé que la dégradation plus importante que prévu en mode course a conduit à des modifications de son côté, ce qui, selon lui, a affecté l’équilibre de sa voiture pendant la qualification.
« Nous avons eu beaucoup de difficultés avec l’usure des pneus et de l’arrière. Il était donc crucial de créer une plateforme plus stable. Cependant, cela a un coût, car cela exige des compromis dans différents types de virages », a-t-il expliqué.
« Je n’ai pas bien compris les conditions. Mon premier tour correct était en Q2, deuxième tentative, et mon premier tour en Q3 était loin de l’idéal. Donc, ce n’était pas la séance de qualification la plus facile, mais c’est quand même un résultat positif pour demain. »
