Sergio Perez was happy with the recovery he made during qualifying for the French Grand Prix today, while neither Red Bulls start on p0le they will start second and third.
In qualifying at Paul Ricard on a hot and humid Saturday, Ferrari worked well together to ensure that Charles Leclerc won the pole, a tow from Carlos Sainz was probably what accounts for the three-tenths gap he found over Verstappen's best Q3 effort, with Perez only a tenth and a bit adrift of his teammate.
It was good news for the Mexican veteran, during the three practice sessions prior to qualifying he had been a second or more slower than Verstappen throughout.
Thus after qualy, Perez was understandably content with third: "It was a good recovery, I've been struggling a lot. I think it has been my worst weekend but we managed to recover well for qualifying.
"The target will be to try and recover and try to beat those red cars. They were looking strong. Our target is to beat both red cars."
As for the final effort, Perez said: “To put in a decent lap in Q3 after a difficult start to this weekend is really good and I am pleased to be back in contention. We did some setup changes and managed to get in the rhythm of understanding the tyres which worked out well.
"Hopefully puts us in a position to fight hard in the race where I think patience, a strong start and a good tyre strategy in the heat will be key to getting a good result. It’s also very important we work together to get the best outcome for the team."
Perez lies third in the 2022 F1 drivers championship standings on 151 points, 57 behind leader Verstappen at this halfway point of the season; Red Bull lead Ferrari in the constructors' table 359 points to 303.
Latest News
Loading
