Perez: Ferrari ‘a step ahead’ even without Verstappen DNF

Sergio Perez believes Ferrari would have “absolutely” prevailed in Sunday’s Australian GP even without the mechanical issue that befell Max Verstappen in the opening laps of the race at Albert Park.

The Dutchman launched his race from pole position and led the opening lap from a string of cars headed by Carlos Sainz before his charge was thwarted by a rear brake issue that would prove terminal.

Ferrari’s Sainz picked up the baton and never looked back, while Perez, who had qualified second but started his race from sixth following a post-qualifying grid penalty, failed to make any significant progress.

The Mexican concluded his race fifth, outpaced by both Ferraris but also by the McLaren’s of Lando Norri and Oscar Piastri.

“As a team we just didn’t have the pace today,” Perez told Sky afer the race.“We didn’t have the pace throughout the weekend.

“We were struggling already from Friday and we never got on top of the management of tyres. I think we just have to understand and make sure we are able to improve.

“We already saw last year in a track like this, for example Vegas a front-limited track, Ferrari was a lot stronger than us. So we just couldn’t look after the front tyres.”

• Read also: Verstappen says ‘stuck brake’ caused Aussie GP early DNF

Asked whether Verstappen would have been able to fend off Ferrari’s attacks with his DNF, Perez was adamant that the Italian outfit would have won even without his teammate’s retirement.

“Absolutely, yes,” he said. “I think we struggled early on.

“We could see that Ferrari and McLaren were a step ahead of us. I think we just couldn’t get the balance in the window.

“There’s some work to do for the coming races. It was a very unique tarmac and just throughout the weekend we were not able to manage the best possible grip level.”

After the checkered flag, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner radioed in to apologize to Perez: “Not our finest race Checo, sorry about that,” he said. “Plenty of lessons out of today.”

But Horner later claimed that Perez’s RB20 had raced with a damaged floor that deprived the Mexican’s car of significant downforce.

“He’s probably not aware of it, but he picked up a bit of damage whilst he was passing Fernando [Alonso],” said Horner.

“He lost a significant amount of downforce from the floor of the car. So we just need to get the car back to understand exactly what’s caused that.

“As soon as you get that, then your tyre deg gets worse.

“We were just not good at the end of the stints, which has been an unusual trait for our cars, so we need to understand that.”

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