Perez and Colapinto to start Qatar sprint from pitlane

Sergio Perez and Franco Colapinto will start from the pitlane for Formula 1’s Qatar Grand Prix sprint race after changes were made to their cars under parc ferme conditions.

The pair both had a difficult time in Friday’s sprint shootout session as they were eliminated in SQ1.

Colapinto, who has come into this weekend running older specification suspension as the result of his big crash in Las Vegas, ended up slowest overall.

Speaking to ESPN, the Argentinean said he was baffled about why he was so far off the pace on his first visit to the Losail circuit.

“I have things to keep working on, obviously, because I don’t know the circuit, but I’m still a long way off and I don’t quite understand why,” he said.

“We have to keep working. Obviously, the old suspension and all the old parts I have on the car don’t help, but I have a lot of understeer in the slow corners, in the medium-speed corners. When I push a bit more the front tyres they start to slip, and I have a lot of spin.”

Perez had an equally difficult time in SQ1, after facing some concerns in the build-up to the session as his Red Bull team worked to fix a problem with one of his anti-roll bars.

While he got rolling in the end, he missed out on a slot in SQ2 after his best lap was compromised when he got involved in an on-track battle with Charles Leclerc. He had been due to start from 16th.

Reflecting on qualifying, he said: “Unfortunately, we left a little bit late. We had an issue with one of the anti-roll bars.

“And then to get my final lap, we were all opening gaps, and then Charles came, and we were fighting into turn one and so on. We lost a couple of tenths there, enough to be knocked out.

“Unfortunately, it was a shame, because I felt like we really progressed with the car from P1 to qualifying. We have a lot more potential. It’s a shame that we just ended up here.”

On Saturday morning, Perez was also handed his first reprimand of the season for exceeding the time limit between safety car lines, but as he had been focused on not impeding other drivers rather than attaining a sporting advantage, no greater penalty was deemed necessary.