Perez bemoans impact of Abu Dhabi FP2 red flag disruptions

Sergio Perez was left unhappy following Friday practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after he was left with limited running during the day.

The Mexican driver sat out FP1 at the Yas Marina, as did team-mate Max Verstappen, while rookies Isack Hadjar and Jake Dennis, respectively, had runs behind the wheel of the RB19 as part of the mandatory rookie outings teams must undertake.

Perez resumed driving duties in FP2, but the session was largely curtailed following red flags for crashes for Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg.

In the brief period of running that was available post the Hulkenberg crash, Perez climbed to fifth fastest, but logged just 16 laps in the day, and suggested he is now on the back foot.

“We had to do some tricks, I was struggling with some front end initially but ultimately we hardly got any running, especially on the Medium [tyre],” Perez said.

“Then on my Soft run we had traffic with people doing high-fuel runs at the end. It wasn’t a very straightforward day with not running in FP1, so very short running.

“We now have to be very careful with what route we take because when I did my lap, the tyres were on the hot side so not very representative at that point.

“I think we’ve got some good potential, we just have to do some tweaks here and there and we should be able to come back.

“FP1 here is not very representative. It’s more that we didn’t get a long run, that is not ideal. But it is what it is.”