Sergio Perez claims he became “a passenger” after brake issues on his Red Bull saw him end up in the gravel in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

Perez had already endured a miserable final practice session at Melbourne’s Albert Park in which he was only sixth quickest and after a number of off-track excursions due to the inconsistency in the RB19’s brake pedal.

Just minutes before qualifying started, his car was raised up on the jacks in the garage, with his mechanics working feverishly to send him out on track.

When Perez did appear, his session lasted only a handful of minutes as he locked up his right-front wheel on the approach to Turn 3, sending him across the gravel where he beached his car.

“We had a bit of a technical issue from FP3 and we thought we had fixed that but we obviously didn’t,” said Perez, who will start the race from last on the grid.

“It was very difficult to do anything out there. I became a passenger as soon as I touched the brake.

“It’s something that is moving the brake balance quite far forward under braking.

“I just hope that we are able to fix it as a team tomorrow and be able to race and minimise the damage.”

Perez has confidence in Red Bull

After winning the last race from pole position in Saudi Arabia, where team-mate Max Verstappen rose from 15th to second, Perez now faces a tough ask to squeeze a point out of the event in Melbourne.

Although the circuit possesses four DRS zones that will aid his quest to move up the order, it is a tough one to execute a pass, and then he has to rely on reliability to see him through to the chequered flag.

“I’m confident we will be able to fix it as a team, and hopefully minimise the damage tomorrow but it’s going to be difficult to overtake,” added Perez.

“I totally trust my team that we will be able to overcome this problem and be able to have a strong race pace.”

Verstappen starts from pole, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton directly behind him, allowing Mercedes the opportunity to work with strategy to potentially carve out a strong result.

Perez recognises Red Bull is vulnerable if it is unable to implement its planning.

“The margin in quali shows how close everyone is,” added Perez. “If we’re not able to put it all together every single Saturday and Sunday, the competition is very strong.”