The challenging qualifying continued for Sergio Perez even in Qatar, where he was eliminated in Q1. He narrowly missed advancing to the top 15 by just 0.013 seconds, trailing behind Alex Albon and Liam Lawson. This result marked the sixth consecutive Sprint Qualifying session this season where Perez has been outqualified by his teammate. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, secured a sixth-place start for the Sprint, lining up alongside Charles Leclerc in fifth.

Following a single-point finish in Las Vegas, Perez had expressed his determination to recover in the final two races of the season. However, traffic issues involving a Ferrari destroyed his performance, leaving him only slightly improved in the first practice session. “We left a little bit late,” Perez explained after Sprint Qualifying. “We had an issue with one of the anti-roll bars, and then on my final lap, while we were all opening gaps, Charles came along.

“We were battling into Turn 1 and beyond, and I lost a couple of tenths there—just enough to get knocked out, unfortunately. It’s a shame because I felt like we made real progress with the car from P1 to Qualifying. There was a lot more potential, but it didn’t come together in the end.”

Looking ahead, Perez indicated that the team would prioritize improving their performance for Sunday’s race rather than focusing on the very difficult Sprint—a sentiment echoed by Verstappen. The World Champion, who ended up three-tenths behind polesitter Lando Norris, admitted the Sprint would be a tough challenge given his car’s current balance issues.

“The Sprint will probably be hard, fighting the cars around me with the way the car feels right now,” Verstappen remarked. “We’ll see if we can make some progress for the other qualifying session. I don’t expect a dramatic turnaround, but hopefully, it’ll be a bit better.

“To be honest, we just don’t have the pace. The balance isn’t there for attacking from entry to mid-corner. The high-speed sections are okay, but everything else is off, which makes it hard to push. P6 is probably about where we should be—maybe even P7. Of course, it’s not where you want to be.”