Sergio Perez‘s qualifying struggles continue to haunt him in 2024, with another early exit during Qatar’s sprint qualifying. Meanwhile, his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen cruised through with ease.
The gap between the two drivers was striking. Perez could only manage 16th place, trailing Verstappen by more than seven-tenths of a second. The championship leader comfortably secured 4th position.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this pattern.
In Las Vegas, Perez also crashed out in Q1, with an even bigger gap to Verstappen – nearly a full second behind. Though he managed to fight back to grab a single point by finishing 10th in the main race, it’s becoming a worrying trend for the Mexican driver.
Now he’s facing another uphill battle in the sprint race, needing to work his way through the field once again.
The pressure’s mounting on Perez, who’s been with Red Bull since 2021. With young talents waiting in the wings and his seat potentially up for grabs, these qualifying performances aren’t helping his case.
The contrast with Verstappen couldn’t be more clear. While the Dutch champion consistently fights at the front, Perez keeps finding himself battling in the midfield – not where Red Bull expects their second driver to be.
A dramatic moment came when Perez and Charles Leclerc fought for the same piece of track, highlighting just how far back the Mexican is having to race compared to his championship-winning machinery.
For a team dominating Formula 1, having one car regularly struggling to make it past Q1 is becoming an increasingly difficult situation to justify.
