Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admitted he was both frustrated and annoyed by Sergio Perez’s early exit in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
Perez had three laps deleted in Qualifying 2 for track limits breaches and will line up on Sunday in 15th.
His team-mate Max Verstappen will start from pole, with Horner of the opinion his cars should have locked out the front row.
“He’s got the pace today, he’s got a car that was easily capable of being on the first or second row,” Horner told Sky Sports.
“He was matching Max’s times… Stay in the white lines.
“It was strike one, strike two – Checo just stay in the while lines – strike three. And that was it.
“So I mean, just hugely, hugely frustrating because he could have been there, he could have done it.
“That’s the frustration.”
Perez was twice pinged on the entry to the final corner, with his final breach happening when he ran wide exiting the turn.
He argued he was hindered by a car ahead, suggesting it was unfair to be penalised for understeering off when running in turbulent air.
“Once I got the feedback that it was on the way into [Turn] 10, it was all cleared,” he began.
“I was on a good lap but then all of a sudden, on my final lap, I found, I think, [Alex] Albon and I just went straight; I could not stop.
“I think I lost a tenth or a bit more than that just by going straight.
“But the stewards wouldn’t consider that I was blocked.”
Nor for that matter, was Horner accepting that as a defence.
“We know he can do it,” the Red Bull team principal exclaimed.
“He did a 4.9 on that lap, he was three-hundredths off Max – he could have been four-tenths slower and still been in [Qualifying 3].
“Q2, that’s not the time to be doing it, so that was the frustrating thing because he could have done it today.
“The lap times he was doing, he was tenth for tenth with Max today,” he added.
“That’s the annoying thing; that’s the frustration; he can do it.
“It’s just a great shame, because I think this would have really kickstarted things for him.
“And then of course the frustration for us as a team is now we have two Ferraris [that] are a little closer, versus one Red Bull with Checo out of position.”
Perez wasn’t alone in having a time deleted for track limits – a total of 47 were during the qualifying hour – but the difference was the impact.
Oscar Piastri had a lap deleted that would arguably have propelled him into the top 10, but he instead will start 13th.
But while that’s disappointing for the Australian, it doesn’t leave him significantly out of position.
Perez, by contrast, starts 15th in a car that has won all eight races so far this season.
Hence Horner was left frustrated as Verstappen, who had a total of four laps deleted, was able to deliver when Perez could not.
The difference was that the world championship leader adjusted his approach when alerted to the issue.
“At least he responded when we say ‘stay in the white lines’, and he did that,” Horner explained.
“So he built a conservatism into, his laps to make sure that he had a wheel inside the line.
“And I think there was a little bit more time in the car in that last sector if he had have gone for it, so he was driving with a bit of restraint.”
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