'We’ve got a fundamental issue' – Perez bemoans lack of grip in Las Vegas after sixth Q1 exit of 2024

Sergio Perez was left to lament a lack of grip as the Red Bull driver suffered a sixth Q1 exit in 2024, this time at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Perez struggled to extract one-lap pace from the RB20 through the course of the Q1 session at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, and was shuffled down the order during the closing stages.

LIVE COVERAGE: Follow all the action from qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix

As rivals improved, Perez was bumped out in 16th position, failing to make it through the first hurdle of qualifying for the sixth time this season.

“It was mainly the whole weekend I’ve been struggling quite a lot with the grip,” Perez said. “It’s just really difficult to put the lap together with the amount of sliding and with the tyres, not making it work, that’s been the most difficult one.

“I did expect a very difficult qualifying and yeah it turned out to be a tough one.”

Perez added that “I think we’ve got a fundamental issue at the moment with the car that is just not working for me” and that “at the moment we come to the weekends and we just explore a lot of things – it’s just a difficult one to make it work.”

He continued: “You want to be up there, especially I know what I can do. But when you don’t have that grip underneath you, then it’s really hard, and you’re prone to a lot of mistakes and so on.”

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Perez has endured a difficult run of form through 2024, and has scored only 20 points since Formula 1 returned from its summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Perez faces starting from 16th place but, while acknowledging the race “is going to be a very tricky one,” he is optimistic of making gains through the field.

“There’s a long race ahead, a lot of things will happen, and I believe we will be more competitive come race day,” he said. “Yesterday we looked a lot better over the long race than over a single lap.”