Marko Asserts Car Was Not Main Problem After Perez's Q1 Knockout In Canada

Sunday, 09 June 2024 at 14:00

Helmut Marko reflected on Sergio Perez's Q1 knockout during the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix weekend, suggesting it wasn't the car's fault.

The qualifying session for the ninth round of the season at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was difficult for all the drivers due to imperfect conditions on the track.

However, one of the drivers who struggled perhaps the most was Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who signed a two-year contract extension with the Austrian team just ahead of this weekend.

The Mexican driver couldn't put in a fast enough lap from the start, and in the end, he was only fast enough for P16, which means he will have it super challenging to score some decent points for his team on Sunday.

What might be even more concerning for the Milton Keynes team is that this is the third race weekend in a row that the 34-year-old hasn't made it into Q3. Perez told the media after the race:

"I think the main problem was that we couldn't turn up the rear tire; we were always below the ideal temperature, and with those conditions, we needed more temperature. Only having one lap was not ideal, and that made our classification a total disaster."

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"It will be complicated, it will be a complicated race, but, let's see what we can do with the strategy, the weather and see if we can rescue some points.

Another thing that doesn't help Checo's case is that his triple World Champion teammate, Max Verstappen, put the RB20 on the front row, proving Q3 was easily reachable.

Assessing the situation after the qualifying session, Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko told ServusTV:

"It's not the car, you can see that with Max. I think it's more psychological. It was close, and when the conditions change, he finds it much more difficult. But the fact that it's already the third time (not in Q3) is painful."

If Perez doesn't improve his performance in the upcoming weekends, Red Bull might start asking whether giving Perez a two-year extension was the right move to make. For now, Checo still has some time to prove these three weekends were just a minor blip in an otherwise solid season.