Checo called the qualifying session disappointing, but defended the strategy of the Red Bull team
The Mexican Sergio Checo Pérez regretted being eliminated in the second qualifying round of the Bahrain Grand PrixA circuit in which he failed to live up to the team’s expectations by placing himself in eleventh place on the starting grid for the race to be held next Sunday at the Sakhir Circuit.
Given the choice of medium tires and a difference of 0.035 thousandths on the clock with a tenth place, Checo Pérez noted. “It wasn’t the expected qualifying session, I didn’t do the lap I wanted.” Pérez defended Red Bull’s strategy to go out and seek qualification for the third round with the medium compound and make sure it would have given them an advantage.
“Yes, because I think if it worked, it gave us a good advantage for the first part of the race by having that tire. Today we did not succeed and that is a bit disappointing ”, he stated.
Checo Pérez said the short practice time and track traffic made his evolution difficult the whole weekend.
“We had a lot of traffic problems and I was out of place and so on, but these are things we have to fix. It has been a difficult weekend. Bahrain is a very complicated circuit because you only have one lap and then you run out of tires, the wind changes you, you have to be patient and learn from tomorrow ”, he explained.
In the same way, showed his optimism in customizing the RB16B and he assured that his learning process was complicated.
“Every mile I cover in the car helps me a lot to understand it better. The car has a very peculiar driving style and a very small work window that I have to learn. Every lap I take, I understand better,” he concluded .
His teammate, Max Verstappen took pole in Sakhirso the score in qualifications is 1-0 in favor of the Orange. A section in which dominance is expected from the European, as Checo is not exactly the fastest driver in a lap.