Sergio Perez’s Canadian weekend is certainly one that will soon be forgotten, with a sixth place finish with a particularly bitter aftertaste. For the third consecutive flight, the Mexican failed to reach Q3 in qualifying, being eliminated during the second heat, as happened in Spain.
The choice of tires weighed heavily in the most delicate phase of Q2, which forced him to make a comeback race starting with the hardest tire available, which ideally should have allowed him to carry out a first stint long enough to get out of the traffic.
While making progress in the first part of the race, like others he got stuck behind the Ferraris and the DRS train that formed behind Nico Hulkenberg. The two Reds also made only one pit stop, but adopted an opposite strategy with an initial stint on the medium tyres.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Perez is convinced that the entry of the Safety Car came at the least favorable moment, because it gave the opportunity for those who were already on a two-stop strategy to make their stop in a good time window, thus saving time for a pit stop . Although it is true that this allowed him to lap in clean air behind the two Ferraris, Perez had to rebuild a margin on the hard tire which would allow him not to rejoin traffic once his stop was made.
“I think there was a bit more margin,” Perez said when asked by Motorsport.com if he could have done better than sixth.
“But today we didn’t have the right pace. We struggled. I think the Safety Car hurt us badly, because it came at the wrong time for us. So, yeah, luck isn’t with us at the moment, but that’s the way it goes the things”.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19, Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-23, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
When asked about his difficulty keeping pace during the Montreal weekend, he was clear on the main issue, focusing in particular on braking. It’s important to bear in mind that several riders struggled in this respect, suffering from the dips in the asphalt that extended up to the braking area.
“Basically under braking. I think the handling wasn’t optimal, so braking was the most important thing. And that’s where we think we need to intervene to understand what’s happening and then come back strong.”
Asked if he could elaborate on the origin of the problem, Perez explained that it will take some time to fully understand what went wrong: “Not at the moment. We did something with the tyres, something with the set-up, some things they need to understand Exactly”.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner played down the hypothesis of a mechanical problem with the car, arguing that it was more something related to the exploitation of the tyres: “Of course, I don’t think there is anything specific. I think he was struggling as the others to generate the temperature in the tyres. Of course it’s something Max has always been very strong in the way he drives the car.”
“So I think Checo, who started on the hard tyre, lost some contact with the rider in front before stopping on the medium. He had similar problems to those he had with the hard tyres, but then he rode a bit in clean air ”.
“And that’s where we did the fastest lap. To be honest, it wasn’t far from what the simulation suggested.”
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