A “hurt” Sergio Perez is pinning hopes on an unpredictable Dutch Grand Prix after timing errors resulted in a Q1 exit in qualifying
Red Bull misjudged the estimated cut off point to get into Q2 and then the Mexican missed his final run in Q1 after traffic on the out-lap saw him fail to make the finish line in time.
“It hurts, it hurts really badly,” he told the media afterwards. “Very disappointed today because we had such a fantastic car.
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“We could have had two cars up there tomorrow, possibly locking out the front row and so we really didn’t expect to be in this position.
“It’s really, really hard to digest this with the level of car we have underneath us. But there’s nothing I can do now. I am certain we will learn from it and just move on.
Explaining what happened, Perez added: “Things happen. I think our cut-off wasn’t expecting this track evolution that we had at the end of Q1.
“We were monitoring lap times from other people, and then we realised that we were in a bit of a mess and we didn’t manage to complete the lap.
“We were probably carrying just a bit too much fuel for Q1 and we were less safe than we thought, and in the end, people were making gaps in the pit lane.
“I just missed out [starting the lap] by a second and a half, or something like that, which is extremely frustrating, because we definitely had the pace today to be on the front row.”
Perez qualified 16th, but will now start from the pit-lane as the team take the opportunity to fit a new power unit.
And though a processional race is predicted, the possibility for accidents and incidents could still allow Checo to make progress.
“I think we’re facing a race that no one really knows what to expect. There are a lot of things that will happen coming up,” he said.
“It’s a circuit that demands a lot from the drivers. Anything will be possible tomorrow. It will be hard to overtake, it will be hard to follow.
“We just have to stay and do our race as good as possible,” he summarised. “Let’s see what happens.”