Perez reveals shoulder issue was “big limitation” in Barcelona F1 qualifying

The Mexican could only qualify eighth on the grid in Barcelona, nearly a second off the pace of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who was second to Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Perez was one of the few drivers who managed to improve on his second run of Q3 after a spin during his first flying lap left him without a time at the bottom of the top-10 order.

After qualifying, Perez revealed that he had been struggling throughout qualifying with shoulder discomfort.

“I didn’t felt 100% with myself today,” Perez explained.

“I had a bit of an issue with my shoulder through qualifying and was feeling bad all the way through it. I’ve spoken to the team and we reviewed everything and we should be back to 100% tomorrow.

“It was just getting worse and worse as the quali developed and I struggled a bit more with it, but yeah, as I said, should be fine for tomorrow.

“I don’t think it is something I’ve done with the car,” he added. “We don’t know 100% what it is but we’re really confident we can be back to form for tomorrow.”

Perez described his Spanish Grand Prix qualifying as his “toughest” day yet for Red Bull this season.

"It was just a bad day,” he added. “I didn’t get a good lap throughout the day.

“Q1 was looking alright but we just didn’t make any progress after that. But I wasn’t 100%, so it was hard to get the best out of the car in qualifying.

“Not feeling 100% physically was a big limitation.”