SILVERSTONE, U.K. — Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was eliminated from the opening segment of qualifying at the British Grand Prix, marking his fifth straight failure to make the shootout for pole position.
Barring any penalties ahead, Perez will start Sunday’s race from 16th on the grid, while his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen is on pole.
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Perez got caught out by a late red flag in the first session of qualifying, which suspended track action while Kevin Magnussen’s stricken Haas was recovered from the circuit.
Perez was sent out of his garage early before the session had restarted and as a result his tyres cooled before he made it on a damp track, contributing to his poor performance.
“The red flag lasted longer than we expected initially, that didn’t help for the temperature of the tyre,” he explained. “And yeah, just a shame to lose out as we had a great Friday, the race pace was looking really good, starting from the back it’s going to be another race where we try and minimise the damage.
“I think in this conditions it’s where I struggle the most with the car. My issues with the car become more apparent in the changeable conditions, so I think it’s something as a group we need to get on top of and understand what we are able to do better, simple as that.”
Although Red Bull boss Christian Horner has supported him publicly, Perez’s position with the team feels more precarious by the week.
Perez’s hopes of challenging Verstappen to the championship have evaporated since winning two of the opening four races of the year.
Verstappen has won five consecutive races since, during which time Perez’s form has completely crumbled — he also crashed during qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Qualifying is split into three segments, a 20-car session called Q1, a 15-car session called Q2 and a 10-car session called Q3, where pole position is decided.
The stats are damning for Perez. He has not started from a top-ten grid slot for five straight races and this year has three eliminations in Q1 and Q2 apiece.
Verstappen, by contrast, has been on pole position at each of the last five races.