Sergio Perez blames Esteban Ocon but Red Bull told to ‘hammer him on the radio!’

Sergio Perez pointed the finger of blame at Esteban Ocon after sprint qualifying in Austria - but Martin Brundle questioned his methods on Friday.

Red Bull’s Perez was forced to complete his best qualifying lap behind the slow-moving Alpine of Ocon, with time running out on the clock for the session.

Perez qualified in seventh, a place ahead of Ocon, while teammate Max Verstappen claimed pole position.

Perez told Sky Sports afterwards: “I think we were in the mix today.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know what Esteban was doing. He apparently had to drive really slowly.

“I did my final lap within half a second from him. Basically, there was no chance…

“It’s a shame because we had promising pace. Unfortunately we weren’t able to maximise it today.

“We should have been in the mix today but, for circumstances out of our control, we didn’t end up where we needed to be.”

But Brundle reacted: “If the team had put him out on the track earlier, it would have saved that problem.

“They were backing it up, and obviously got it wrong.

“I don’t understand that. They have data, the pitwall telling you. It was flagged up with us. George Russell’s engineer was telling him that some of them won’t make it over the line.

“It’s all a bit silly, isn’t it? That they don’t get the lap in? That they leave it so late?

“Even if they cross the line they compromise their ability to do a good lap, because they’ve pushed the car so hard.

“I find it incredulous, actually, that they would wait so long.”

Bernie Collins added: “Ocon and Pierre Gasly were out there on used tyres. Perez is driving a Red Bull, you know you’re much faster.

“Someone should be hammering him on the radio to say ‘go past this car!’

“He’s not 1.3s behind Verstappen but that’s what the timesheet shows, because he did the whole lap behind an Alpine on a used set of tyres.”

Red Bull ahead of McLaren

Red Bull, on the first day of their home round at the Red Bull Ring, led their nearest competitors McLaren.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified for the sprint race in second and third respectively, behind Verstappen.

"When everyone is pushing flat-out, they are again behind me," Verstappen said. "So they are quick as well.

"We seemed quick in the high-speed, which is nice around here.

"The sprint race will give us an early indication of the pace in the [grand prix] for every car."

The F1 champion added: "It was a positive day to be honest.

"I am happy. We started the day well, the car was in a good window.

"A little niggle with the sensor but we fixed that quickly.

"Heading into qualifying, the car was strong. I could push.

"There will always be areas where we could do better and we’ll look at that tonight.

"But definitely a good start to the weekend."