Sergio Perez has revealed that Red Bull are struggling significantly more than it expected this weekend in the Spanish Grand Prix, although a "light" has at least been seen at last by the Mexican driver.
Perez looked off the pace throughout the practice sessions but safely progressed to Q3, something he had failed to do in the previous three races.
A mistake on his sole lap in Q3 on fresh soft tyres resulted in P8, which becomes 11th on the grid provisionally due to a three-place grid penalty from the Canadian Grand Prix.
Despite starting the race outside the top 10, Perez is feeling better in his RB20.
"Yeah, we're finding the light out of the tunnel," Perez told select media including RacingNews365.
"Unfortunately, my final sector in Q3 lost a bit too much compared to myself, I think we could have been a lot closer. We only had one single set, so that made things a little bit tricky that the wind changed a bit.
"But overall, I think we've been a little bit too far this weekend. We've been chasing the balance, every now and then. But I feel like we've done some good steps, which made me feel a little bit more comfortable."
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Surprising difficulties
Whilst Perez finally feels more comfortable, Red Bull has not performed as expected at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Red Bull was expected to return to its dominant ways this weekend, although that has not been the case.
Max Verstappen was beaten to pole by Lando Norris, with Perez conceding that the team did not expect to be struggling in Spain.
"I think we explored the car a lot," added Perez, when asked about his reported lengthy simulator sessions by RacingNews365.
"I think we struggle a lot more than we anticipated in Barcelona. Obviously the correlation sometimes can be good, sometimes not.
"I think tyre issues have been also a bit of a stand out. So it's been quite hard to pick up a direction over the weekend. But I think we're just getting there.
"And hopefully tomorrow we are able to show some good race pace, and turn the page quickly."
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