Horner on Perez: 'The off that he had unsettled him a little'

Max Verstappen could count on a lot of praise for his dominant pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, but at the other end of the garage, disappointment reigned. Sergio Perez was stranded in Q2 and must start from P11, but according to Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner, the Mexican is still lucky to have survived Q1.

Horner on Perez's outing

"He had a difficult qualifying," Horner told Sky Sports about Perez's Saturday. "He went off, and then the tyres cooled down. He was lucky to get through Q1 into Q2. Unfortunately, the off that he had unsettled him a little. It was one of those days for him."

The Red Bull team boss sees Perez facing quite a challenge from 11th place on the grid. "I think tyres are crucial. We had the guys back at the factory looking at the analysis between the two cars. Are the cars creating the same amount of downforce? They were like for like, we couldn't see any part misbehaving."

According to Horner, Perez is not far off Verstappen's pace, but simply did not have his day on Saturday. Verstappen also indicated that he was expecting his teammate to be next to him on the podium, given the speed in the RB19.