Verstappen rues being ‘definitely off’ rivals in Sao Paulo Sprint Qualifying as Perez explains ‘confusing’ factor that led to SQ2 exit

Max Verstappen has admitted that his Red Bull looked to be “definitely off” as soon as Sprint Qualifying got under way at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with the Dutchman having a mixed session en route to fourth, while Sergio Perez faced an early exit after a “confusing” mix-up with his programme.

As McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris claimed the front row following an impressive outing for the Woking squad, Verstappen had to settle for P4 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and explained after the session that his car had not felt at ease on the newly resurfaced track.

READ MORE: Piastri beats Norris to stunning Sprint Qualifying pole in Sao Paulo by 0.029s

“As soon as we went into qualifying it looked like we were definitely off,” said Verstappen. “Our car, [it was] a bit difficult on the bumps – they did the resurfacing but I think they actually made it worse to drive!

“It’s extremely bumpy everywhere, so that’s not good for our car. So all the bumpy areas, the car’s jumping around a lot and it’s costing me quite a bit of lap time unfortunately.”

Reflecting on his prospects for the Sprint – a format in which Verstappen has good form, having claimed victory during the previous four events in 2024 – the reigning world champion commented: “For tomorrow I don’t know.

“Normally when you are already quite a bit off over one lap, I don’t think we are particularly the strongest in the race, so we’ll have to see how that goes tomorrow in the Sprint. Of course I also know there is maybe some weather around that can come but maybe not for the Sprint. We’ll have a look.”

And when asked about the five-place grid penalty that he will serve for Sunday’s Grand Prix following a change of power unit, Verstappen joked: “I have a bit more work to do!”

HIGHLIGHTS: Piastri storms to Sao Paulo Sprint Qualifying pole as Hamilton and Perez knocked out early

On the other side of the Red Bull garage, it was a challenging day for Perez. The Mexican had displayed decent pace in SQ1 but ran out of time to set a final flying lap in SQ2, pushing him down into the elimination zone in P13.

“We had a good Q1, but then into Q2, we were struggling a little bit with the balance,” Perez explained afterwards.

“We had a little bit of understeer with the track coming down and we tried to do it basically with the brake balance, the tools that I had available, but I ended up a little bit too rear-limited.

“And then it was a bit confusing on the programme. We thought we might have a chance for a second lap, and unfortunately we didn’t.”

READ MORE: Defiant Perez insists he’s not worried about his Red Bull future as he vows ‘you will see me next year’

Looking ahead to the Sprint – and whether he was able to get a feel for what to expect from Friday’s earlier practice session – the six-time race winner voiced an optimistic note for Saturday’s qualifying.

“It was a strong FP1 but I think today we did struggle quite a bit,” he conceded. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s qualifying really. We got caught out with the conditions unfortunately, and that’s really what was the difficult bit.”