Red Bull Christian Horner insisted both cars were “like for like” after Sergio Perez’s problematic qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix.
While Max Verstappen eased to pole position by almost half a second in Barcelona, the Mexican suffered his second difficult Saturday in a row as he struggled to P11.
Such was the gap between the two Red Bull drivers in qualifying, the team actually checked to make sure both cars were the same.
“We checked all the aero loads after Q1,” Horner revealed to Sky Sports.
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“So the support that we have back in the factory, they’re able to look at the analysis between the two cars – are the cars generating the same amount of downforce and they were like for like.
“So we couldn’t see anything any part misbehaving. Obviously, we’ll do a big inspection this evening, but I think it was just about getting the tyres in the window because we know Checo is not that far off, he didn’t get the car working today.”
Conditions were tricky in qualifying due to rain before and a light shower at the start of the session leaving parts of the circuit damp.
And the Red Bull chief believes Perez was simply caught out.
“He just had a difficult qualifying,” Horner added. “He went off and then the tyres cooled down trying to get that tyre temperature.
A tough Saturday for Checo ?#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1arZPLY37x
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 3, 2023
“He was lucky to get through Q1 as the circuit was evolving and then, unfortunately, the off that he had in Q2, I think it just unsettled him a little.
“Unfortunately, it was one of those days for him so P11 for him tomorrow leaves him with quite a bit to do.”
Looking ahead to the race, Perez is confident he can make his way through the pack.
“I hope I can recover everything and get to the podium, that would be an ideal scenario for us tomorrow,” he said, “but we will try everything we possibly can.”