Perez explains bizarre Colapinto pit exit overtake

Sergio Perez has suggested he let Franco Colapinto by for position on purpose at the start of the sprint race in Qatar.

Both Perez and Colapinto started from the pit lane after making changes to their cars following the sprint shootout on Friday.

As the light went green at the end of the pit lane, Perez hesitated to get away with Colapinto jumping at the opportunity and moving himself into 19th place.

Perez has declared he wanted free air to give the Red Bull engineers more reliable data ahead of Sunday's grand prix.

“Mainly we wanted to have a big gap,” Perez told media including RacingNews365. 

“One of the reasons we started from the pit lane was not to recover all of the positions and get to the points.

“We knew that we were quite out. We wanted a big gap to the people ahead to have as much clear traffic as possible.

“He managed to get through for us, it was important. We tried a lot of things, but we wanted to have that gap to be on clear air for most of the race.”

Perez hopeful over stronger grand prix

Perez is enduring a tough run of form, having scored just one point in the last three grands prix.

The Mexican driver is hopeful his data-gathering during the sprint will allow him to have a stronger grand prix - a race he will start from ninth place.

“I think we did some good progress on the day,” he said. “With the testing I did this morning, I think we found some good direction. 

“Unfortunately, I didn't go as aggressive as Max did with on the setup side, but I think it was definitely good progress. 

“Hopefully tomorrow in the race, that will be all a lot more together and the balance will be working a lot better.”