Sergio Perez said qualifying was a "struggle" for the Qatar Grand Prix, after failing to make it through to Q3 for the eighth time this season. The Mexican had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 5 during the dying moments of Q2, which put him outside of the top ten. This means that he will now start from 13th on the grid for Sunday's race,pending the outcome of various stewards investigations, but does not impact his starting position for the Sprint race. Perez must realistically win the Sprint on Saturday to stop team-mate Max Verstappen from becoming a three-time World Champion, with the Dutchman needing just a sixth-place finish to seal the crown.
Perez: I struggled a lot
When asked to describe his session, Perez told F1 TV: "It was quite difficult, we struggled a lot for balance. Basically we had so many issues, every corner was pretty much different. "I think the conditions are very difficult overall, but I just struggled a lot." Perez believes that he can still salvage a result for Red Bull, as he looks to keep the championship alive while also preserving his second place in the Drivers' Championship. "It's not over. It's obviously going to be very difficult to pass, especially with the track conditions that we currently have. "But we'll see what we are able to do and recover from there."
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