Sergio Perez rues mistake that cost Red Bull front-row lockout

Perez, FrenchGP, Red Bull — Photo: © LAT Images

French Grand Prix

Perez rues mistake that cost Red Bull front-row lockout

Perez eventually finished fourth at Paul Ricard

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Saturday 19 June 2021 17:51 Updated: 09:20

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Sergio Perez was left to rue a mistake which he believes cost him a front-row spot for the French Grand Prix.

Red Bull has taken the battle for F1's championships to Mercedes this weekend, proving their recent pace has not been circuit-specific as Max Verstappen stormed to pole position at Paul Ricard by over two-tenths of a second.

With Perez in the hunt all weekend, he was "definitely" disappointed to end up fourth, 0.455secs back on his team-mate, citing a scrappy Q3 session as to why he failed to beat either Mercedes.

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"We showed some good pace all the way through qualifying, the progression was there and I was feeling quite comfortable going into Q3," said the Mexican.

"Unfortunately, on both of my laps, I didn't put it together. On the first one, I had a drop in power which cost me quite a lot of lap time.

"On the second one, I did a mistake into 12. So not putting the lap together cost me quite a bit and definitely, locking the first row was in the car today.

"But it is a long day tomorrow and we are still in a good position so we can definitely fight hard for tomorrow. We have a good race car pace so we basically focus on the race."

Red Bull downforce package provides advantage

With the crackdown on flexi-wings finally enforced this weekend, Red Bull has turned to a low-downforce rear wing in an attempt to curb Mercedes' straight-line speed advantage.

With its rivals opting for more downforce on Lewis Hamilton's and Valtteri Bottas' cars, Perez believes the decision will pay dividends in the race.

"I think that is an advantage come race day. We have a good straight-line speed and we are able to go quickly through the corners and still look after the tyres so I think, there is plenty to play for tomorrow."