Perez admits ‘nothing really worked’ in Sao Paulo GP as Horner brands Mexican’s first-lap spin ‘annoying’

Sergio Perez was left to rue that “nothing really worked” during his eventful afternoon at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with the Mexican having to fight his way back to P11 following a first-lap spin branded “annoying” by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

Sunday morning’s qualifying session – which had been postponed from Saturday due to the inclement weather conditions – did not go well for the team as both Perez and team mate Max Verstappen found themselves eliminated in Q2, having been unable to improve after Lance Stroll crashed in the final moments, triggering a red flag.

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This put Perez in P12 on the grid, but the 34-year-old dropped to the back of the field after spinning during the opening lap. From there he attempted to work his way forwards during a chaotic race and engaged in a close fight with RB’s Liam Lawson and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in the latter stages.

However, after going wide whilst trying to get past Lawson for ninth place, Perez was then overtaken by Hamilton and ultimately missed out on scoring points in 11th.

Giving his assessment on the Grand Prix afterwards, Perez reflected: “It was just… nothing really worked today. We started the race with very cold tyres, because we didn’t know at the time we could change them like everyone else did.

“And then not having a car in front [on the grid], I [lost] the clutch and went into a massive amount of wheelspin, and then I ended up spinning into Turn 10 – it was a disaster. Then we pitted before the red flag, so nothing really worked!

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“In the end we were coming back, we had a couple of good restarts, and in the end we were fighting with Lawson and then I lost the position to Lewis by going straight at Turn 4.”

In terms of where this leaves him ahead of the final triple header of the season – which kicks off with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 21-23 – Perez added: “I think we are definitely making good progress. I think the weekend has been a lot stronger than the end result, so that’s a positive thing.”

It comes after Horner acknowledged that Red Bull missed out on a chance to close the gap to the leaders in the constructors’ standings by not having both cars in the points in Sao Paulo, with Perez’s non-score a contrast to Verstappen’s 26-point haul for winning the race and setting the fastest lap, despite starting five places lower in P17.

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Speaking about Perez’s recovery drive after his Lap 1 error, Horner said: “It was frustrating. The spin on the first lap was annoying and then he did his best to fight back. To finish out of the points today is frustrating when we had a fast car, but he’ll brush himself down and fight back in Las Vegas.”