Perez: I'm miles away with Red Bull F1 car despite Imola front-row start
Sergio Perez was surprised to qualify second for Formula 1’s 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as he still feels “miles away” from gelling “naturally” with Red Bull’s car concept.


In only his second event for Red Bull, Perez out-qualified team-mate Max Verstappen and felt he actually lost pole at Imola to Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton with a mistake in the final corners of his last Q3 lap.
Perez had trailed Verstappen by 0.593 seconds in FP3 – the only practice session both Red Bull drivers completed after the former collided with Esteban Ocon in FP1 and the latter had a driveshaft problem early in FP2 – and was 0.286s slower than the Dutchman in Q1.
But he gained significantly after running the soft tyres throughout Q2, topping that segment and then beating Verstappen by 0.052s in Q3 – where both made errors that cost them the chance to deprive Hamilton of pole – to take his first F1 front-row start.
Explaining how he was able to make such an improvement in the post-qualifying press conference, Perez said: “I think just understanding where to get the time.
“I have a pretty good reference in Max, it’s just getting 100% all time out of the car [is difficult]. It’s just adapting myself to it, learning step-by-step.
“I wasn’t expecting myself to be here at the moment because I feel that I am miles away from where I should be [with the RB16B].
“Things are not coming naturally yet. So, it’s a good boost in confidence, not just for myself, also for the team – to make them feel that they have both drivers and that we can push the team forward together.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, in the post Qualifying Press Conference
Photo by: FIA Pool
“That’s an important bit. Hopefully from here on, we just keep that progress and [in the race] we do another step in performance.
“It’s the target just to keep [improving] step-by-step.
“I’m not in a hurry, I know that I’m not where I should be, but certainly it’s positive to be up here just in my second race with the team.”
When asked by Autosport to explain why he had not used the medium tyres in Q2, which would have provided a slightly better starting strategy for Sunday’s race, Perez said: “We felt as a team that the soft is nowhere near where it was last year, so it’s a good race tyre.
“It’s just different to the medium [and] it was very important and crucial for me to get that learning, that consistency and that progression [by reaching Q3].
“Last time [in Bahrain] I missed Q3 and really getting those laps. We can all look back and all do better, but just getting in that mood with the car is very important for me – to be able to put it when it matters.
“I needed this clean qualifying. Whether or not it is the right or wrong strategy I think there’s not much between them, so we are definitely in the game for tomorrow.”
Related video

The back-bedroom world-beater that began a new F1 era
Miami Grand Prix joins F1 calendar for 2022 season

Latest news
Autosport Podcast: Ranking the top 10 Arrows F1 drivers
The Arrows Formula 1 team was a mainstay of the world championship for 24 years between 1978 and 2002, with its perennial underdog status earning widespread admiration.
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
Ferrari: F1 team orders idea discussed more outside than internally
Ferrari says the use of team orders between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is “more discussed outside Ferrari than inside Ferrari” as it targets parity with its Formula 1 drivers.
Aston Martin: CFD data shows rear wing doesn't hurt F1 rules intent
Aston Martin says simulation data it gave to the FIA proved that its radical rear wing idea did not scupper the intent of Formula 1's 2022 rules to improve racing.
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid
How studying Schumacher helped make Coulthard a McLaren F1 mainstay
Winner of 13 grands prix including Monaco and survivor of a life-changing plane crash, David Coulthard could be forgiven for having eased into a quiet retirement – but, as MARK GALLAGHER explains, in fact he’s busier than ever, running an award-winning media company and championing diversity in motor racing. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission, wasn’t quite the fastest driver of his generation…
Could F1 move to a future beyond carbonfibre?
Formula 1 has ambitious goals for improving its carbon footprint, but could this include banishing its favoured composite material? PAT SYMONDS considers the alternatives to carbonfibre and what use, if any, those materials have in a Formula 1 setting