Perez points to twin mistakes for lowly Abu Dhabi qualifying

Sergio Perez highlighted a pair of mistakes that he felt ruined his chances of securing a higher qualifying slot at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver was initially fifth quickest after the final runs in Q3, but dropped down to ninth when his lap time was deleted by the stewards for exceeding track limits at Turn 1.

That is in contrast to team-mate Max Verstappen who scooped a 12th pole of the season and fourth straight in Abu Dhabi as he seeks a 19th win from 22 races in the season.

Perez has struggled with qualifying all season, but pointed to the fact that he only had one new, fresh set of Softs for the final segment at Yas Marina.

Perez wants better track limits solution

"It's been a bit difficult, especially after I had a really strong Q1 and Q2, but then in Q3 with a single set of tyres it wasn't the smoothest of sessions," Perez told media, including RacingNews365.

"I made that mistake going into Turn 6, and I undershot Turn 1 a bit, so the lap was just not very clean.

"I lost a few tenths, but unfortunately, it is what it is and now we need to look forward to the race."

Track limits have been the subject of a lot of debate over the course of the season, with it recently being used to appeal the race result of the US Grand Prix by Haas.

Both the race at Austin and Red Bull Ring produced a farcical situation, as drivers were penalised multiple times for going over the white lines.

Perez wants to see the FIA and F1 work on a better solution, due to how confusing it can sometimes be for fans, drivers and teams alike.

"I really hope that during the winter we are able to find better solutions for the drivers, but also for fans, because it's just confusing for us," he explained.

"Finishing qualifying and you have teams that will be arguing to try to get penalties on others, so I just feel like it's some work that we've got ahead of us to try to come up with a better solution on track limits."