The first Sprint Qualifying didn't help Sergio Perez in improving his grid position. The Mexican driver, who had finished both the first qualifying session and the second practice session in P5, spun at Chapel on lap 6, damaging his wing. He tried to continue the session, keeping P17, but had to retire in the final laps in order to, as per his words, "finish the race safely".

Afterwards Perez was devastated by his accident, as he said: "Yeah, I lost the rear of the car at that point, I became a passenger. It's a real shame because I've ruined it all today, I don't remember a race as bad as this one in my career so... It's a real low point for me, tomorrow is a new day and i look forward to it."

The Red Bull driver apologised to his team and described the dynamics of the accident, where he completely lost the control of his car: “I had a bad start and trying to get positions back with the car, managing the pace, and picking up the throttle out of the corner I just lost it."

The moral on his side of the garage isn't high, but nothing is lost as most of the points will be handed out tomorrow:

“It’s hard after days like today. But tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity to figure out what we are able to do better. Hopefully we are able to get it right and minimise the damage of today.”

Red Bull, and especially his teammate Max Verstappen, has shown good form throughout the whole weekend, and the car looks as strong as in the previous races. Perez ended on an higher note:

"We're at the back of the grid, and it's very hard to overtake; we seem to have a lot of pace in the car, but we'll see what we'll be able to do for tomorrow."

An #F1Sprint to forget for Checo 😔 We've seen him charge through the field before so he will be one to watch on Race Day 💪 pic.twitter.com/TiH4H0xFmU

— Red Bull Racing Honda (@redbullracing) July 17, 2021