Perez points to ‘fundamental issue’ after latest Red Bull catastrophe

Sergio Perez has detailed there is a “fundamental issue” with his car following his latest qualifying concern.

Perez failed to advance out of the opening qualifying segment in Las Vegas and ended the session in 16th place.

It marked the sixth time this year that Perez has dropped out of qualifying at the end of Q1 and the 10th occasion he has failed to take part in the top 10 shootout.

Perez's disappointing run of form this year has left his Red Bull future in major doubt - however the Mexican insists a problem with the car limiting his pace.

“I think we’ve got a fundamental issue at the moment with the car that is just not working for me,” Perez told media including RacingNews365.

“It’s where the whole brain is going to try and fix it instead of being compromised.

“At the moment, we come to the weekends and we explore a lot of things. It’s just a difficult one to make it work.”

Perez's team-mate Max Verstappen ended the session in fifth place, sharing the third row of the grid with Land Norris.

When asked if it is personally demoralising, Perez replied: “Well, it's obviously not ideal. You want to be up there, especially when I know what I can do.

“When you don't have that grip underneath you, then it's really hard and you're prone to a lot of mistakes and so on.”