Red Bull are running away with the championship yet Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin have all made more Q3 appearances than them this year.
Of Red Bull’s two drivers, Sergio Perez is clearly the one coming up short in qualifying. Out of the eight races so far this year, Perez has failed to reach Q3 in half of them.He missed the cut for the final 10 for the third weekend in a row in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix yesterday. Team mate Max Verstappen has only missed Q3 once, at the second round of the season, when his driveshaft broke during Q2.
Perez missed Q3 for the first time in Australia two races later, where he struggled throughout final practice with a braking problem. He continued to suffer with it in qualifying and skidded into a gravel trap at turn three on his first flying lap, ending his session. That was the first of five races during which he’s only reached Q3 once – his run to pole position in Miami.
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Statistics: Q1, Q2 and Q3 appearances in 2023 so far
Tap each layer to compare eliminations and appearances by team mates.
Q1 eliminations
At the opposite end of the grid, the situation at Williams is in many ways the reverse of Red Bull. They have the most Q1 eliminations of any team, with nine, yet Alexander Albon has avoided a first-round exit on all but two occasions.
The only team which has avoided a Q1 elimination at every round so far this year is Mercedes. Charles Leclerc’s handling problem in Spain saw him drop out in 19th place two weeks ago, and Lance Stroll narrowly missed the cut for Q2 in Miami, accounting for the sole Q1 exits for Ferrari and Aston Martin respectively.
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Q2 eliminations
Alfa Romeo have fallen more often in Q2 than any other team. All of their nine rivals have made it into Q3 more than once, indicating the competitiveness of the midfield – not long ago some teams went entire seasons struggling to escape Q1 let alone Q2.
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Q3 appearances
Ferrari’s strength in terms of one-lap pace has seen them reach Q3 more often than any other team so far this year. Due to Perez’s struggles, Mercedes and Aston Martin have also made more appearances in Q3 than Red Bull.
McLaren is another team which tends to perform better in qualifying than the race. It got both cars into Q3 this weekend, as it did in Spain, but failed to score two weeks ago.
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Team mate battles
Albon is the only driver who has kept a clean sheet against his team mate so far this year, out-qualifying Logan Sargeant at every round.
| Qualifying scores | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Albon | 8 – 0 | Logan Sargeant |
| Lando Norris | 7 – 1 | Oscar Piastri |
| Lance Stroll | 1 – 7 | Fernando Alonso |
| Kevin Magnussen | 2 – 6 | Nico Hulkenberg |
| Nyck de Vries | 2 – 6 | Yuki Tsunoda |
| Max Verstappen | 5 – 1 | Sergio Perez |
| Esteban Ocon | 5 – 3 | Pierre Gasly |
| Valtteri Bottas | 5 – 3 | Zhou Guanyu |
| Charles Leclerc | 4 – 4 | Carlos Sainz Jnr |
| Lewis Hamilton | 4 – 4 | George Russell |
Methodology: Whichever team’s driver reached the later stage or set the faster lap time is judged the winner, unless either was unable to set a time due to a technical fault. Data refers to qualifying for grand prix sessions and not sprint races
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2023 F1 season
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T
18th June 2023, 15:54
Carlos Slim is about to open up his pocket books.
Telmex/Telcel is gonna start paying sidepod money while staying exactly where they are.
DR is also rubbing his hands raw in the background right now.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th June 2023, 16:08
So a separate statistics article for qualifying sessions from now on, not that I mind.
Checo’s failure to reach Q3 such many times in the outright-fastest is rather embarrassing.
drmouse (@drmouse)
20th June 2023, 13:27
You’re not wrong. It’s even more disappointing given his strong start to the season. I doubt anyone expected him to be battling with Max throughout the season, but he looked on course for a solid 2nd in the WDC after the first couple of races. Unless he gets back on track, he’ll be lucky to finish 3rd at this rate.
The only person person at RBR who may be smiling at his recent performance may be Danny Ric…
David BR (@david-br)
18th June 2023, 16:09
Horner’s expression on the pit wall after Perez went out in Q2 didn’t look one of sympathy. Lucky Max needs zero help this year. Apart from circuits with fast corners, unpredictable wind, unexpected low temperatures and rain, Perez is OK though.
Itsmeagain (@)
18th June 2023, 17:15
Lucky max?
David BR (@david-br)
18th June 2023, 17:20
@itsme sorry, short for ‘it’s lucky’ Max…
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th June 2023, 1:29
Ahah, that’s a good list of exceptions!
Yaru (@yaru)
18th June 2023, 16:45
Imagine how more more dominant RB would be if they had a competent second driver.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th June 2023, 1:31
Mclaren 1998 like, in terms of wins they could still be.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th June 2023, 1:31
1988 ofc*
drmouse (@drmouse)
20th June 2023, 13:30
With Perez recent performance, there would be a fantastic shot for Aston to challenge for the WCC… If only they had a competent second driver…