Red Bull driver forced to start the F1 Qatar GP sprint from the pitlane as team makes suspension changes
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez will start the F1 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint race from the pitlane after making suspension changes to his RB20. The Mexican once again failed to get out of the bottom five in qualifying in the 2024 season and has generally struggled over one lap this year.
The six-time race winner had looked lackluster as compared to his teammate Max Verstappen in the only Free Practice session of the weekend on Friday. His fortunes did not change in the Sprint Qualifying as he failed to get out of SQ1 and finished in P16.
But heading into the Sprint race, Red Bull has decided to make suspension changes on Sergio Perez's car that would force him to start the 19-lap race from the pitlane. Perez would be accompanied by Williams F1 Franco Colapinto as the latter too made similar changes and would accompany him in the pitlane.
Speaking with the media after the Sprint Qualifying, the Mexican driver mentioned that fighting with Charles Leclerc on his final lap in SQ1 was one of the reasons for failing to get out of the danger zone in the session, saying:
“To get my final lap, we were all opening gaps and Charles came through and we were fighting for truck space into turn one and I lost a couple of tenths there, enough to be knocked out unfortunately. It is a shame because I feel we really progressed with the car from P1 to Sprint Qualifying, we have a lot more potential.
"I think it is going to be tough to come through the field tomorrow, so we will focus hard on the rest of the weekend. In such a short race I don’t think there is a lot we can do but we will try our hardest."
Red Bull team boss gives his take on Sergio Perez's SQ1 exit
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated that losing Sergio Perez in the SQ1 session on Friday night was "frustrating", given their battle in the Constructor's Championship with McLaren and Ferrari.
Speaking with ViaPlay, the 50-year-old said:
"Unfortunately, Checo [Sergio Perez] just hasn't managed to get enough out of the car to get through into [S]Q2. Frustrating to lose him in [S]Q1, so we'll have a look at the data and see what we can change after the sprint race tomorrow. It's not great by a long shot. So yeah, frustrating."
Red Bull could be out of the Constructor's Championship battle at the end of the Qatar GP weekend if both cars fail to score points. They are currently 53 points behind McLaren and 29 points behind Ferrari with two races and one Sprint remaining in the 2024 season.