Sergio Pérez’s horrible qualifying form continued at Silverstone as he was knocked out in Q1 on Saturday in tricky conditions.
The Mexican driver was in P14 when a red flag was thrown to retrieve Kevin Magnussen’s Haas. He then sat at the end of pitlane for a good few minutes before the session resumed.
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As the track got drier and faster, Pérez leaped up to P1. However, it quickly became clear that time wasn’t good enough as Albon immediately beat him by almost half a second. After everyone completed their final laps, he was down in P16 and out in Q1.
For a fifth consecutive weekend, he will have to try a salvage some points from outside the top 10. Heading into tomorrow’s race, he holds a 17-point advantage over Fernando Alonso in the battle for P2 in the Drivers’ Championship.
“I think the red flag lasted longer than we predicted initially. That didn’t help for the temperature of the tyre.
“It’s a shame to lose out because we had a great Friday, the race pace was looking really good. So I think starting from the back it’s going to be another race where we will try to minimise the damage.”
Expanding on why qualifying has been so difficult for him lately, Pérez explained a lack of confidence and trust in the RB19 when running in mixed conditions has hampered him severely.
During Q1 today before the red flag came out, Pérez was lapping somewhere between a second to two slower than Max Verstappen after doing a few flying laps each.
“In these conditions it’s where I struggle the most with the car. My issues with the car become more apparent in changeable conditions. So I think it’s something that as a group we need to get on top of and understand what we are able to do better.”
