With Friday’s first free practice session largely unusable due to rain, neither Sergio Pérez nor team-mate Max Verstappen recorded a lap time at the end of FP1.
The weather conditions improved in the second practice session and the teams were able to work on their car set-ups, with Carlos Sainz leading ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris at the wheel of the McLaren.
Verstappen finished fourth, just two tenths off the best time, but Pérez could not even get past seventh position, more than eight tenths off Sainz .
The Mexican driver acknowledged that his car was “miles away” from what the team had prepared in the simulator, stating that his mechanics will have a lot of work to do overnight to be 100% ready for British GP qualifying. .
“It hasn’t been a great day, comparing the preparation we have in the simulator, the car is miles away,” said Pérez .
“We assume there’s something going on, but we have to understand it and [our track time] was very short, so it’s not a great start. We’re at the back so we have to understand what’s going on.”
The #11 explained that an aerodynamic problem was behind his tricky situation on Friday, acknowledging that the team is suspicious about what it takes to fix it.
“Yes [we have an idea], I think there are some doubts on the aerodynamic side, but obviously I can’t go into too much detail,” he added.
Asked if they could turn things around, he said: “It’s going to be very, very difficult, but we’ve done it before, and I think as long as we’re able to put things together… You need to have confidence in these fast corners, so as long as I’m able to get my confidence back, I think everything should be fine.”
“Ferrari looked strong, but nothing too special, so hopefully we’ll be able to match them tomorrow in qualifying.”
Verstappen , who completed a less dramatic practice session, admitted missing out on FP1 is a big problem for Formula 1 teams as they have less time to find the right setup.
“It’s always a bit complicated, of course, after not being able to go out on the track almost in FP1, FP2 is a bit like playing guessing games, let’s put it that way,” explained the current world leader.
“We’re still there [in the fight], but there are still some things we need to look at, you know, like the tyres. Here, with all these high-speed corners, the tires in general wear a lot, so it’s always going to be quite complicated to manage them”.
