Racing Point were left dumbfounded after struggling to eighth and ninth on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Silverstone-based outfit was expected to shine at Spa-Francorchamps, a circuit they traditionally thrive at, but as other teams continue to improve their cars, this could be the first sign that their ‘Pink Mercedes’ is falling down the competitive order.
“We were quite surprised, in a bad way,” Sergio Perez, who had said he’d be upset with anything worse than fourth after practice, told reporters.
“For some reason, the pace just didn’t come, we struggled all the way through qualifying, and we just simply didn’t have the pace we were hoping for.”
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Asked if the pace drop was due to running higher downforce with the possibility of a wet race, the Mexican added: “No that has nothing to do with it. I think we simply lost some performance today.
“Already in Q2, we saw we were trying to go on the option [medium] compound, but we didn’t have the pace and we changed to the softest one.
“In Q3 it was the same. Let’s look back and try to analyse things and see what we can do for tomorrow.”
Teammate Lance Stroll was hopeful the race could be better, however.
“It’s frustrating, we were hoping for more, it has been very tight this weekend so we have to bounce back tomorrow,” he said.
“Tomorrow will be a long race, a lot can happen out there, the weather also is a big question mark.”
Meanwhile team boss Otmar Szafnauer also rued the lack of pace hampering their qualifying plan.
“We had hoped to reach Q3 on the medium tyres, but with all the teams so closely-matched, we had to switch to the softs to progress,” he explained.
“This left both drivers with just one set of the softs for Q3 and we chose to run early in the session. Our qualifying pace didn’t quite match our expectations from practice, so that’s something we need to understand going forward.
“It’s tomorrow that counts, though, and we’re certainly well placed to compete for good points. I’m optimistic that the race pace will be strong, but there’s a chance rain showers could influence the race too.”