09/06/2024
NEWS STORY
Red Bull consultant, Helmut Marko has claimed that Sergio Perez' problems in qualifying are psychological and not an inherent issue with the car.
While Ferrari was left shell-shocked at failing to make it past Q2, for the second successive race weekend Perez failed to make it beyond Q3.
Indeed, while in the opening races he put his car on the front row twice and second row three times, at Imola he qualified 11th, then 18th in Monaco and 16th in Montreal.
The Mexican was quick to blame a lack of grip for his latest "disaster".
"It was a total disaster," he told F1TV. "I just couldn't get the grip in.
"It was a very strange sensation for a lot of cars out there," he added. "For us, I just couldn't get the tyre switched on. It was taking a while to really switch on the tyre.
"It was a total disaster," he sighed. "I think when we went at the end, I just couldn't get a proper lap in."
The Mexican's mood wasn't helped by the feeling that the car's handling was better during the morning practice session, only to fall away when needed in qualifying.
"Mainly the issue was the rear end, the rear axle," he said. "It felt a little bit worse. I couldn't lean on it at all. We need to look at it and understand the reason behind it, it was stepping away from me all the time.
"In hindsight we could have done a lot of different things," he admitted, "but at the end of the day we lacked some pace, simple as that. There are some fundamental issues that we need to address, understand, and figure out, to make sure we are able to improve in the coming races."
Though starting from the back end of the grid, the Mexican vowed to fight back.
"I am angry with myself," he said. "We are a team and it is not an ideal time for us but we have full focus on tomorrow and hopefully we are able to save something and score some points. The weather can hopefully help us, it can make things unpredictable, and we will see what we can do with the strategy as well."
"Tyres, rear axle or whatever, Marko believes there is another reason for the Mexican's loss of (qualifying) form.
"It's not the car," he told ServusTV, "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 is painful."
All of which adds to the confusion not so much as why the Austrian team retained Perez but why the decision was made just a third of the way through the season.
Over the years a number of drivers have turned to sports psychologists, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda both having claimed to have benefitted, while Haas potential Oliver Bearman is also understood to be working with one.