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F1 fans were left raging after Red Bull driver Sergio Perez failed to qualify for the SQ3 session in the Sprint Qualifying at the US Grand Prix on Friday. The Mexican driver did not look as comfortable in the upgraded RB20 as his teammate Max Verstappen, who qualified P1 for the Sprint race on Saturday.
The 34-year-old was battling the car throughout the session and narrowly escaped the SQ1 session as he managed to put a time on the board in the final few minutes. However, he was unable to showcase a major improvement in his performance in the SQ2 and could only manage a P11.
Sergio Perez's misery was compounded after RB driver Yuki Tsunoda displayed astonishing skill behind the wheel to make his way into the top 10 and eventually qualified P9 for the Sprint race while his teammate Liam Lawson finished in P12, a place behind the Red Bull driver.
F1 fans took to social media to give their take on Sergio Perez getting knocked out of the SQ2 session on X, with one fan suggesting:
"Put Yuki or Lawson in that thing."
"GIVE YUKI THE RBR PLEASE."
"Perez gotta go," said a fan.
"Checo getting eliminated is no longer surprising. Sums up his season since the first few races really," claimed another.
"Lawson would have gotten him too without that turn 1 mistake," pointed out another.
"Liam also eliminated. Why is Tsunoda not being considered for the Red Bull seat? another fan asked.
Sergio Perez responds to reports of his retirement from F1
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez stated that he felt the needed to inform his fans to not believe the rumor of him retiring at the end of the 2024 season.
Speaking to the media ahead of the race weekend, the six-time race winner said:
“I just felt like, you know, it’s been every year for the last two years or so that someone creates this rumor and then everyone picks it up. Then all my fans, obviously I’m very conscious that there are a lot of people coming to support me at the Mexican Grand Prix, and they probably might be expecting something that is not true.
“And I felt the need to just say, look, I think it’s just not correct to spread just rumors like this without knowing the facts.”
Sergio Perez is currently P8 in the drivers' championship with 144 points after 18 races and is the only driver from the top four teams who is yet to win a race this season.
