F1 | Red Bull, Sergio Perez: “Conditions not ideal in Q3”

Sergio Perez secured fourth position in qualifying, just fourteen thousandths behind the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, third. The Mexican's qualifying started off uphill, but Perez managed to do the bare minimum to secure the second row. Sprint Qualifying will be fundamental for Sergio: Red Bull showed a good pace, but Mercedes seems to have found more power with Lewis Hamilton's new PU, who will serve a five-place penalty in Sunday's race.

"It was a bit complicated, especially in Q1 where I had to use two sets of tyres, so qualifying started off on the wrong foot, but we improved by reaching Q3. I think at that point the track cooled down a bit and we no longer found the ideal conditions – explained Checo – we put the pieces together on the last try and were only a tenth or so away. That said, fourth is a good position for the Sprint Race. I think the new Mercedes Power Unit did the trick, Lewis was untouchable today, but we'll see tomorrow. We hope to have a good race because the car showed good pace and I think we can compete for it".