Sergio Perez claims Qualifying “super crucial” for Red Bull after ‘losing track’ in Friday practice at Spanish GP

Sergio Perez affirmed that Red Bull need a strong result in Qualifying for the Spanish GP.

Sergio Perez claims Qualifying “super crucial” for Red Bull after ‘losing track’ in Friday practice at Spanish GP

Sergio Perez(via IMAGO)

Sergio Perez didn’t go well with the car in FP2. The Mexican did not get beyond 13th place, while teammate Max Verstappen finished fifth. Perez emphasized the importance of qualifying and expressed his unhappiness with starting from 13th place on Saturday.

Sergio Perez says it is very important to qualify well this weekend. The Mexican driver mentioned that, while they began FP2 positively they made several changes to the car during the session. These changes may have caused them to lose their way a bit in terms of performance and setup. Perez reckoned, the team needs to analyze what went wrong and understand the data to ensure they make the right decisions moving forward.

Qualifying is super, super crucial. We started well but in FP2 we did quite a bit of changes and I think we lost track somewhere and there're plenty of things to analyze.
Sergio Perez said, as reported by SkySportsF1
YouTube video

Checo mentioned, the team explored various adjustments to the car during FP2. Perez reckoned that the team has gathered enough data to make informed decisions for Saturday’s qualifying sessions. The Mexican mentioned it is difficult to overtake at circuit-de Barcelona-Catalunya. So it is important for him to start at front for Sunday’s race because passing other cars in track will be challenging.

FS Video
We explored the car quite a bit so hopefully we are able to pick the right bits going onto tomorrow.
With the lack of overtaking here it's going to be very important to be able to qualify well for a good position on Sunday.
Sergio Perez explained

Helmut Marko claims Sergio Perez’s gap to Max Verstappen was ‘acceptable’ in Spanish GP FP2

Helmut Marko reflected upon Checo’s performance during FP2, where he mentioned changes to it’s car setup was made. During the morning session, Perez was within four tenths of a second from the fastest lap time, which was considered acceptable by Marko. Despite these changes the Mexican was still competitive compared to the fastest cars on the track.

We made [setup] changes too and especially with the four tenths gap in the morning, was still acceptable.
Helmut Marko said, as reported by RacingNews365
Helmut Marko with Sergio Perez
Helmut Marko with Sergio Perez (Images via IMAGO)

In the afternoon session, Checo’s performance was too behind and it was observed due to Verstappen’s feedback. The gap between his lap times and fastest times widened to one whole second, for which Marko was worried. The 81-year-old noted the importance of analyzing data to make necessary adjustments for improving Perez’s performance. Helmut Marko reckoned that this analysis was crucial to ensure Checo can be faster and more competitive in qualifying on Saturday.

That's also due to Verstappen ['s feedbacks], but now it's down to a second and so we have to see what causes it.
Helmut Marko added

Certainly, Marko’s observation highlighted the importance of making effective setup changes to improve performance and staying competitive. Fans hope the changes made to Perez’s setup bring good results for Saturday’s qualifying session.

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