‘We were just struggling too much’ – Perez identifies ‘main issue’ as he reflects on dispiriting home Q1 exit

A dejected Sergio Perez pointed the finger at braking issues on his Red Bull RB20 after he suffered an early exit from qualifying on home soil at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Perez eyed an upturn in fortune ahead of the weekend’s action at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, having conceded on Thursday that he had endured a “terrible season,” but struggled for performance in Saturday’s final practice session.

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That trend continued throughout Q1 as Perez languished towards the lower end of the timesheets and found himself in the drop zone as time ticked down.

Perez was unable to escape the bottom five and is set to start Sunday’s grand prix from 18th place on the grid.

It marked the fifth time this season that Perez has been eliminated after the first stage of qualifying.

“We were just struggling too much with stopping the car,” Perez said after jumping out of the cockpit.

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix

“For example into the low speed I cannot brake, I cannot stop the car, as soon as I attack the braking I start sliding, that is definitely my main issue at the moment, it’s where I’m struggling the most and I think here it shows even more, every time I tried to attack the braking I’m just locking up.”

Perez also went on to explain that the problem has “been there for the last three races, where I cannot stop the car."

He continued: “I’m having to modulate quite a lot my braking, and that’s something we can see in the data, but we are not able to fix it at the moment.”

Perez admitted he and Red Bull will “discuss all the options” regarding the possibility of starting the race from the pit lane, but was overall deflated at the situation.

“It’s obviously the worst place for it to happen, it’s super disappointing,” he said.

“Still there is four races to go and we have to get on top of it as a team and I hope tomorrow we can enter to the points, but it’s going to be a very difficult weekend.”

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