Sergio Perez pointed the finger at Esteban Ocon after qualifying 1.3 seconds slower than his team mate for tomorrow’s sprint race.
Max Verstappen secured pole position for Saturday morning’s sprint race, while Perez only qualified in seventh.Perez’s sole flying lap in SQ3 was heavily compromised as he ran almost immediately behind Ocon. The Red Bull driver had to push to reach the timing line before the chequered flag, meaning he was far closer to the Alpine driver than he would otherwise want to be.
Red Bull released Perez from his garage with 2’45 remaining on the clock, just a second or two after Verstappen had been released. Perez joined the queue in the pit lane between the Alpines of Ocon and Pierre Gasly behind. By the time Perez left the pit lane exit line, there was exactly one-and-a-half minutes remaining.
“Okay, we might need a slightly faster out-lap here,” Perez was told by race engineer Hugh Bird as he left the pit lane. “Make sure we hold track position form Gasly.
As Perez approached turn three on his out-lap, Bird warned him “we are a bit tight here” when it came to whether he would reach the timing line before the clock expired.
“We’re currently five seconds unsafe,” Perez was told exiting turn three. As he pressed on and gained time Bird reported he was “three-and-a-half seconds unsafe” as he approached turn six. When he approached the penultimate corner of turn nine having caught Ocon, Perez was told “you’re on the bubble here, you can’t back out.”
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Perez eventually crossed the line with three seconds remaining. He was almost exactly one second away from the Alpine ahead, which compromised his timed lap and resulted in him posting a time over a second slower than his team mate’s.
“I don’t know what Ocon was doing,” Bird told Perez after his driver crossed the line. “I don’t know why Ocon left 14 seconds [to Verstappen].”
“This guy is such an idiot,” Perez replied.
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Team principal Christian Horner offered sympathy to his driver. “That was a good effort considering your track position, mate,” Horner said. “So that was alright. I don’t know why Ocon backed you into his team mate…”
As Ocon did not exceed the maximum lap time on his out-lap, he had committed no foul in the eyes of the regulations.
Speaking after qualifying, Perez was frustrated that he had not been able to make the most of his car’s performance in the final phase of sprint qualifying.
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“I think we were in the mix today,” he told the official F1 channel. “Unfortunately, I don’t know what Esteban was doing there where he apparently had to drive really slowly.
“I did my final lap within a half a second from him and basically there was no chance. It’s a shame, because I think we were having more promising pace out there today. Unfortunately, we were not able to maximise it today.”
After a spate of recent rounds where he has been unable to match his world championship-leading team mate, Perez believes he could have been closer to Verstappen had his final qualifying lap not been compromised. Perez lapped within half a second of Verstappen in SQ2 – a similar performance in SQ3 could have moved him up one or two places on the grid.
“We should have been in the mix today. But for circumstances that are out of our control, we didn’t end up where we needed to be,” he said.
Horner agreed: “Unfortunately, it was a disappointing run for Checo, especially after getting boxed in by Esteban, as there was no chance for him to get a representative lap.”
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2024 Austrian Grand Prix
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F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
28th June 2024, 18:18
Ocon was told like 10 times to pick up the pace, go faster by his race engineer but Ocon didn’t – most likely to screw Gasly which is exactly what he achieved.
Ocon was 14 seconds behind Max when starting his lap, well more than 20% of a fast lap in Austria – really bad sportsmanship. Not even Russell who was told to build a large gap has such a large gap, his was like 10 seconds.
Funny that Russell gave as an excuse for not going faster that he was forced to do a too quick outlap – obviously lying as his outlap was slower than Hamilton and he started his lap with 55 seconds on the clock.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
28th June 2024, 20:45
yawn
Nick T.
29th June 2024, 5:04
You didn’t give Lewis an excuse, so pcxmac isn’t interested.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
29th June 2024, 6:40
sigh
MadMax (@madmax)
28th June 2024, 20:49
its not the responsibility of the drivers to care for those behind. there is a maximum lap time, thats it. the sole cause is thats some teams messed up to release their drivers on time, and the drivers were then unable or unwilling to overtake. blaming the drivers in front is pretty silly.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
28th June 2024, 21:44
That is what I think. If ocon was slow enough to be 14 seconds behind Verstappen, then Perez had plenty of time to pass. Blaming another driver for themselves not chosing to pass is rediculous. Ocon is again being an example of being a poor team player, but his result was good, and Gasly’s wasn’t exactly bad either. But what Ocon did shouldn’t be blamed at all for Perez’s result. He just chose not to pass.
mog
29th June 2024, 5:07
Except F1 stats fan doesn’t mention Perez.
It looks like Ocon caused a back up, unexpectedly perhaps but probably deliberately, forcing Gasly and Perez to push in the outlap once they realised. Ocon then pushed as well, removing the option of overtaking for those behind. Gasly mentioned that he had no battery on the fast lap due to this.
I’d argue that Alpine have a strong view on this display of “sportsmanship”.
Nick T.
29th June 2024, 5:09
Ocon can’t help himself even now when he’s under the microscope for being an awful teammate. It’s pretty hilarious.
OkSure
28th June 2024, 21:14
This is a gross misrepresentation of facts. Ocon’s outlap was faster than most other drivers except the two behind him who were 10 seconds behind him. His engineer told him the timing would be tight, but only really told him to floor it near the end of S2, in which Ocon did.
Red Bull and Alpine need to have better strategy. This wasn’t on Ocon.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
28th June 2024, 19:02
So overtake him and do the lap at your own pace?
pastaman
28th June 2024, 22:25
Exactly, I’m almost certain someone like Max would have done just that
Edvaldo
29th June 2024, 1:48
Hungary 2021 he didn’t.
pastaman
29th June 2024, 3:49
Was there a 14s gap in front of the car ahead of him? Genuinely asking
Grapmg
29th June 2024, 9:43
Because Hamilton blocked Max else he would have past him. Hungary 2007 Alonso blocked Hamilton resulted in a grid penalty. But its up to the teams to find a gap there is enough time in Q3
Nick T.
29th June 2024, 5:13
That would take common sense and the ability to drive well enough to make a difference despite your tires being like maybe 1% out of the perfect window due to having to temporarily push a little more than planned. Neither of which Checo has. I wonder how long RBR will be happy to wave away Checo qualifying and/or finishing 7-15 places behind Max every single weekend just on the basis of “he brings a ton of money and Mexico!” Seemingly forever it appears at this point.
Kris
28th June 2024, 20:26
Another day when the F1 teams make themselves look silly.
If the armchair fan at home knows that the last cars leaving will have a compromised out lap and maybe not even start a fast lap, how can’t the team know the same as us?
Nick T.
29th June 2024, 5:15
Because “data!” There are literally countless examples when engineers ignore obvious realities that require adaptation over what their data and “simulations” have told them.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
29th June 2024, 6:45
yeah, its kind of like schizophrenia, people stop seeing what’s really out there with their own two eyes and go full feedback loop. That’s really what people don’t get about things like AI, like all natural processes that run out of input, they eventually feedback in on themselves.
The biggest problems most engineers face is their own pride and sense of status. At the end of the day, there are people who are genuinely curious, and then there are the rest of us, and they don’t care near as much as the former.
Nick T.
29th June 2024, 11:45
Ugh, AI is bringing a very ugly, ugly world.
SteveP
28th June 2024, 20:26
RBR pit crew not releasing him to the track until he would be behind at least one Alpine wasn’t in their control?
When seeking someone to blame, perhaps Perez should look closer to home.
Applebook
29th June 2024, 2:06
They had all the time in the world to do one single lap and waited until down to the wire. No sympathy from me.
HAL
29th June 2024, 9:41
Never good to be stuck between Ocon and his teammate ; you know foul play will be the order.
Having said that, traffic is part of the complexities to manage ; Perez cannot put the whole blame on Ocon.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th June 2024, 14:45
Timing would be on the team though HAL, not on the driver.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
29th June 2024, 10:44
Poor, poor Perez. He should have been multiple times World Champion but there are always other cars in his way…