Perez going into AGP blind as Verstappen with ‘studying to do’

Sergio Perez feels he will be “blind” going into Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix following “a bit of a mental day” of practice.

Perez finished third quickest in FP1, half-a-second behind Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, albeit in a session that was red-flagged for seven minutes due to a loss of GPS data that caused severe traffic issues.

The Mexican driver should have finished top of a rain-hit FP2 as on a soft-tyre run in an opening 15-minute window of dry conditions he was four-tenths-of-a-second quicker through the first two sectors than the leading time set by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Perez, however, encountered traffic in the final sector, leaving him down in seventh on the timesheet before the rain arrived to leave all the teams and drivers poised for a busy FP3 on Saturday and without vital data for qualifying.

“It was a bit of a mental day, especially going into FP2,” said Perez.

“It felt like a lot of people still had issues with the GPS data, and it was just a mess. I couldn’t get a lap in during the afternoon.

“Tomorrow there is plenty to do – too much to do in FP3 – so we are going to be a bit blind going into the race, which should be interesting.”

Verstappen unable to find rhythm

Perez at least confirmed that set-up changes made during the two sessions allowed him to feel comfortable with his RB19.

As for Verstappen, the reigning F1 champion struggled with the low grip around Melbourne’s Albert Park that was resurfaced prior to last year’s event, the result of which he feels remains an issue this year.

“The Tarmac seems to be really slippery, already last year, and it’s quite tough to switch on the tyres,” said Verstappen.

“So when you want to go out and immediately push, it’s really difficult.”

Allied to the red-flag interruption in FP1, Verstappen claimed he could “never really get into a rhythm”.

He added: “We’ll look over the data, see what we have to do, make the right choices and the car will be competitive.

“But we never really got into a window where I felt like we were on top of the tyres so that’s a bit of studying to do for tonight. It should be okay.”