Photo: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull’s Christian Horner voiced confusion over Sergio Perez’s delay at the pit lane exit during the Qatar sprint race, which allowed Franco Colapinto to overtake him. Perez defended his actions, citing strategy, but persistent handling issues with the RB20 remain a concern for the team.
Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, expressed his confusion over Sergio Perez’s sluggish start from the pit lane during the sprint race, which allowed Franco Colapinto to overtake him.
Both Perez and Colapinto started from the pit lane after making suspension setup changes under parc ferme conditions, following their elimination in SQ1. However, when the pit exit light turned green, Perez hesitated. By the time he finally got moving, Colapinto had gained enough momentum to overtake him before the first corner.
Horner was confused by Perez’s actions, noting that the expectation is clear: cars should go as soon as the light changes. "I need to have a chat with him about it," Horner told Sky Sports. "It looked like he just misjudged it. But when the light goes out, you're supposed to go."
Perez, however, explained that the delay was intentional, as he aimed to create a gap to the cars ahead for a cleaner lap. "I wanted to open a gap with the people in front to go with clean air," said Perez. He added that his chances of scoring points were slim and emphasized the importance of assessing the car’s performance in isolation. "We were almost five minutes stopped in the pits, and I had no temperature in the tyres. It was important to go with clean air to find the car, to see where we are."
Once on track, Perez continued to struggle with handling issues that have followed him throughout the weekend. "At the end, we have that disconnect with the balance that is costing us a lot," he admitted. "I don't think we have improved. On the contrary, we have to make changes for the rest of the weekend."
He elaborated on the car’s issues, pointing to instability on entry and poor front-end grip in high-speed corners. "On one of the most loaded circuits of the year, we're about to take the whole front wing (set-up) off. There's something we can't find. We have a big disconnect," he said.
Red Bull used the sprint race as an opportunity to experiment with the RB20’s setup, fitting Perez with a different front wing. Despite the adjustments, his struggles continued. Max Verstappen also faced challenges, as he finished eighth and said that the car felt like a rally car.
Horner acknowledged the difficulties but viewed the session as a chance to learn. "It was part of that testing process, so we got a bit of data out of him. There was no chance we were going to score any points, so we may as well use that session to get something out of it. We changed the wing and tried something a bit different, which gives us and the engineers some good information for the qualifying a little bit later," he explained.
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