Perez blames “something funny with the tyres” after “nightmare” qualifying · RaceFans

Sergio Perez described his qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix as a “nightmare” as he was eliminated 13th in Q2.

The Red Bull driver, who fell to eighth in the drivers’ championship last weekend in Baku equal on points with George Russell, failed to progress into Q3 for the sixth time this season in Singapore.

Perez was nine tenths of a second slower than his team mate in Q2, missing the cut for the top ten shootout by just over a tenth.

He described his session as “a nightmare, really” as he faces starting outside the top ten and pointed his finger at the performance of Pirelli’s tyres.

“I think we had good preparation through Q1, but in Q2 there was something going funny with the tyres,” he told the official F1 channel. I just couldn’t get them in the window, the rear axle.

“I was struggling quite a lot with it. It was just so peaky, that just a little tickle on the car on the balance will make a huge difference. Unfortunately, we are knocked out. It hasn’t been a straightforward weekend. I think we lost some potential from yesterday, so there plenty of stuff to analyse.”

Perez’s performance today repeated his result at the track 12 months ago, when he also qualified 13th, during a weekend when Red Bull were struggling for performance compared to their rivals. However his team mate Max Verstappen qualified on the front row of the grid today.

Perez went on to finish eighth last year, but he suspects rising through the field will be a challenge on Sunday.

“It’s very difficult to overtake out there,” he said. “So it’s going to be a tricky, tricky race tomorrow. Once again, I think trying to score some points, minimise the damage, will be the target.”

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