Sergio Perez makes 'nobody is happy' claim in latest F1 sideswipe

Sergio Perez has slated F1's new regulations as "not good for the show" and believes discussions are crucial for the future of the sport.

After a year on the sidelines following his release from Red Bull, Perez was enticed back to F1 to spearhead Cadillac's maiden year alongside another veteran in Valtteri Bottas.

Whilst the American team has naturally encountered teething troubles as it finds its feet, with Perez a victim in sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, the Mexican driver could not be less impressed with the new cars.

In enticing new manufacturers into F1 with the 50-50 power unit split between combustion and electrical energy, many believe it has gone too far with the rules and is far removed from the F1 people know and love.

Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has been one of the staunchest critics so far, with Perez one of the many joining in on the chorus of condemnation.

"Definitely, we need to discuss what we can do for the sport," said Perez, although he feels changes will be tricky to implement.

"I expect that it will be very difficult because we need all the teams to agree."

However, he added: "But I don't think anybody is happy with the current Formula 1 that we have. I don't think the fans, the drivers, the teams.

"Not good for the show, so I hope we can find something in the middle soon."

Perez hampered by issues

Perez endured a miserable day with Cadillac at the Shanghai International Circuit.

After completing just 13 laps in the sole practice session and finishing at the bottom of the timesheet, Perez then failed to take part in sprint qualifying after the team identified a fuel system issue at the end of practice that it could not fix in time.

Chief technical officer Nick Chester said: "A difficult day today, but at this early stage in our journey, we are still finding issues and fixing them in real time."

Perez has confirmed that the team is "working really hard at the track and back at the factory to find a solution" that will allow him to compete in Saturday's sprint.

Bottas, meanwhile, was the slowest of the 21 cars on track as another niggly problem hindered the Finn.

Although claiming it was "a slightly smoother day on Valtteri’s side of the garage", Chester added: "But a significant deployment issue meant that we were unable to set representative times.

"All the same, every lap we do gives us more valuable information that lets us move forward."