Former Ferrari and Williams team manager Peter Windsor has revealed that some Red Bull engineers told him that “absolutely nothing” was wrong with Sergio Perez’s car after qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix, where the Mexican was eliminated in Q1.
Perez embarrassingly slid-off the circuit at Turn Three on his opening lap in qualifying, beaching his RB19 as a result.
The 33-year-old complained over the radio that there was an issue with his car, something which had happened in FP3 where he went off the circuit four times.
Perez even mentioned after qualifying to the media that something hadn’t been fixed by the team following FP3, despite Windsor having an understanding that his car was perfectly fine.
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“Sergio [was] saying there was something wrong with the car, they didn’t fix it, the brake locking before qualifying happened again in qualifying,” Windsor said on his YouTube channel.
“The team, in the same press release, said, ‘we will be checking the car over and if there is anything wrong we will of course put it right’ – emphasis on the word ‘if’ for sure, and so it proved.
“They changed the brake pads in parc ferme but I spoke to a couple of the engineers and they both said absolutely nothing wrong with the car whatsoever.
“So Sergio, I think, [was] incorrect in saying that to the press, but that’s how he is and at the end of the day there was nothing wrong with that car.”
After starting from the pit-lane, Perez went on to fight through the field and finish fifth, something which saw him awarded Driver of the Day.
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Windsor believes he only got this due to how good him fighting through the field looked, despite the fact he “should have been on the front row anyway”.
“Perez got Driver of the Day probably because, visually, coming through the field, finishing where he did [was] not too bad,” added Windsor. “But what was he doing coming through the field? He should have been on the front row anyway.”
Due to having finished fifth, Perez slipped to 15 points behind Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship, leaving him with work to do.