Sergio Perez has lamented significant “balance issues” when analyzing his disastrous qualifying session for the Qatar Grand Prix.
Pérez was aiming for a strong return after a torrid weekend in Japan last time out, but he was dropped in Q2, his eighth outing this season.
The Mexican’s fastest lap time in Q2 was erased due to a track limits violation at Turn 5.
However, even before this penalty, Perez had only set the 10th fastest lap time, placing himself significantly behind teammate Max Verstappen, who took pole.
Perez:
I encountered a lot of problems
A dejected Pérez expressed frustration about the problems he had with his car when speaking to Sky Sports F1. “It’s quite difficult. We had a lot of difficulty finding balance. Basically, we had so many problems that I couldn’t solve any of them, each turn was different.
“I think the conditions were very difficult but today I struggled a lot in qualifying.
“It’s not over yet, it’s obviously going to be difficult to overtake, especially with the track conditions we have at the moment. “We’ll see what we can do and get through it.”