Perez says he “just cannot stop the car” after fifth Q1 exit of 2024 at home · RaceFans

Sergio Perez said he failed to reach Q2 for the fifth time this year because he was struggling with the brakes in his Red Bull.

He was eliminated in the first round of qualifying for his home race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez after missing the cut by two-tenths of a second.

Perez admitted it had been “a very difficult” session as he struggled to slow his car down for the many low-speed corners on the Mexico City track.

“It was really difficult to stop the car,” he told Sky. “I just couldn’t get on top of it.

“I couldn’t stop the car soon enough and I just put too much energy into the tyres at braking and that was the main issue for me.”

Perez’s best lap in Q1 was eight tenths of a second slower than his team mate Max Verstappen managed. Verstappen went on to qualify second.

The Red Bull driver said he had been battling the problem throughout practice. “It’s been very similar to the rest of the weekend,” he explained. “I just cannot stop the car and I’m struggling along with that part of the phase going into the low-speed.

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“It’s a little bit similar to Austin where I just cannot attack the corners into the braking and here you have a lot of that.”

Perez fell into the drop zone after his first run in Q1. He told his race engineer Hugh Bird on the radio he lacked confidence “mainly at the braking for the low-speed.”

Starting from the penultimate row of the grid, Perez admitted he faces an uphill climb to score points.

“I think tomorrow it’s just very important to try and maximise the day,” he said. “If we are able to score some good points, it will be a tremendous effort, but it’s going to be very difficult from the position we’re in.”