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Perez defeated after fourth Q2 exit in a row

Perez frustrated after fourth Q2 exit in a row: 'The system is wrong'

30 June 2023 at 18:15
  • Toby McLuskie

For Sergio Perez, his string of disappointing qualifying sessions in Spielberg has yet to come to an end. For the fourth time in a row, the Red Bull Racing driver failed to reach Q3 - and thus the top 10.

Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix was mainly about track limits, as was particularly evident in Q2 and Q3. Many times were crossed out and several drivers saw their own names drop back in the timesheets time after time, after which the pressure increased each time to still record a time good enough to move on to the next part of qualifying.

That was also the case for Perez. The Mexican recorded the second-fastest time behind teammate Max Verstappen in the final moments of Q2 but saw his time disappear just as quickly. The reason: track limits, for the third time in a row. "Once I got the feedback that it was on the way to 10, it was all clear," Perez told F1TV.

Perez: 'The system is wrong'

Yet things went wrong again. "I was on a good lap but then all of a sudden on my final lap I found, I think, Albon and I just went straight, I could not stop. I think I lost a tenth or a bit more than that just by going straight but the stewards wouldn't consider that I was blocked," continued the six-time GP winner.

Perez feels a lot of frustration, and he mainly focuses on the way the regulations are enforced. "There are so many things I can control and unfortunately with this one, you're closing a good lap and then all of a sudden you are blocked and you have a penalty. I think the system is wrong," Perez said.