While Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen confidently drove to pole position at the front, the second Red Bull suffered a great disappointment in qualifying in Canada.
Without Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari there would have been a good chance of a first Red Bull row, but Sergio Pérez threw away that chance with a crash in Q2.
The Mexican made a mistake in turn 3 and slid into the barriers, meaning he only starts the race from 13th position. “It’s very frustrating,” says Pérez. “I let my team down, I’m very sorry. But now I have to focus on tomorrow and try to limit the damage.”
He admits that he made a mistake at this point. According to motorsport consultant Helmut Marko, Pérez is said to have braked 20 meters later than Verstappen. “It can’t go well,” said the Austrian on “Sky”.
Pérez himself says that at that point he had some problems with the brakes, which were a bit cold. “In the lap before that, I misbraked in turn 10 and had a flat tire, so I wasn’t quite there,” he says angrily. “And in Turn 3 I was just a passenger. When I hit the brakes, it was a bit too much.”
The Red Bull driver tried to reverse out of the scene of the accident, but he couldn’t: “I was able to reverse gear, but the front wing was stuck under the TecPro barrier. And the marshals didn’t help me,” he says . Otherwise, nothing was actually damaged on the car.
Pérez on the upswing after Monaco only briefly
This was the next setback for Pérez after he was unable to counter his team-mate in Baku. After the victory in Monaco it looked as if “Checo’s” season could pick up speed, but a possible world championship fight is more in the background.
“We said both drivers have equal rights,” Marko emphasizes again that Pérez gets the same chance as Verstappen. “But if Checo wants to be world champion, then he has to beat Max,” said the Austrian.
But in Canada, Pérez slipped back to the previous year’s level. “Five, six tenths behind him, and now even more in the rain,” said Marko. “I hope he recovers in the race. I think top 5 is possible.”
Pérez has not set a specific goal in his race to catch up, especially since at least Charles Leclerc is starting further back. He just says, “Tomorrow is a new day. I’ll do my best.”