A slow opening sector of his final lap in Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix cost Sergio Perez dearly.
His best of 1:17.045s was only four-tenths down on Lewis Hamilton, who claimed pole, in a top 10 covered by little more than half a second.
The Mexican had an inauspicious start to the weekend, crashing out of opening practice with just a single lap to his name.
From there, he recovered well despite a lack of running in Free Practice 2 after flat-spotting a set of soft tyres.
In final practice on Saturday he was just 0.006s off the pace of Max Verstappen, with thoughts of his Friday crash a fast-fading memory.
However, he could not deliver in Qualifying 3 when it mattered to join Nico Hulkenberg on the fifth row.
“We’ve shown very strong pace at times, unfortunately with this format we just played around a little bit too much with tyre prep,” Perez said.
“I had a bad first sector, lost a tenth and a half compared to me. I think without that I should have been P4.”
Oscar Piastri will line up fourth, his 1:16.905s just 0.14s faster than the Red Bull driver managed.
“When you see the margins, a few tenths really change your life,” he conceded.
“But I’m optimistic. At the end of the day, it only matters where we finish the weekend.”
A ninth place starting position does not make a strong result a trivial task, with overtaking at the Hungaroring traditionally difficult.
It’s another Saturday performance that fails to live up to the team’s expectations, and falls short of what Verstappen achieved with the same machinery.
Adding to that tapestry was Daniel Ricciardo, who arguably exceeded expectations to qualify 13th on his first appearance at Scuderia AlphaTauri.
The Australian has made no secret of his desire to return to Red Bull, with the outcome of qualifying serving only to heap further pressure on Perez.
Ricciardo has suggested he’ll fade in the race, noting his inexperience with the car, especially around tyre management over a longer stint, given his lack of track time in the Scuderia AlphaTauri AT04.
Perez, meanwhile, must rise through the field; the podium a reasonable and acceptable recovery from a less than stellar Saturday afternoon.
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