It was a tricky qualifying for Sergio Perez as the Mexican driver could only manage P5 on the grid for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix. He was pipped to 4th by 0.027s as George Russell maximised Mercedes' improvements. 

With very warm temperatures at the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend, Perez was left to bemoan missing out on FP1 as Jüri Vips took his spot for opening practice on Friday afternoon.

The soft tyre only has one quick attempt in it and because he had to sit out the first session of the meeting, he feels he struggled to catch up.

“Today it didn’t go to plan.

“I think it was very costly on our side to miss FP1 because the way the tyres have been behaving this weekend… basically it’s [the soft] a single lap [tyre]. It’s been really hard to catch up.”

On the struggles with the tyres so far this weekend, the 32-year-old pointed to overheating when asked what’s causing the problems. Barcelona is known for cars running out of tyres in the last sector due to the nature of the circuit.

“Overheating. The energy we put through them in sector 1 and sector 2… we haven’t been in a track like this and with this track temperature. It seemed to be really difficult.”

As well as the tyre complaints, Checo didn’t feel 100% with the car throughout qualifying either.

“I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the car, with the tyres. The car was just too much on the edge. [However] I’m still optimistic for tomorrow.

Nonetheless, he’s confident that he can have a good race as he looks to make up places on Russell and Sainz off the line in particular.

“It will be important to get a good start and get as many positions as possible off the line… just go forwards and full attack.”

We struggled to find the perfect lap, we’ll start 5th. But we have everything to be on the mix for the win tomorrow 💪 #SpanishGP #nevergiveup

Nos costó encontrar la vuelta perfecta, arrancamos 5tos.
¡Tenemos todo para pelear mañana por la carrera! #NeverGiveUp pic.twitter.com/AhHwuGFNA7

— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) May 21, 2022