Austrian GP: Christian Horner laments ‘hugely frustrating’ Sergio Perez after another early qualifying exit for Red Bull

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was left rueing a “frustrating” Austrian GP qualifying session for Sergio Perez, who was handed a track limits penalty despite being told to “stay in the white lines.”

Perez was eliminated in Q2 on Friday, continuing a poor recent run in qualifying where he has failed to make it to Q3 in four consecutive races.

In Austria, while team-mate Max Verstappen took pole, Perez had three lap times wiped out for track limit infringements and will now start Sunday’s race 15th on the grid.

“He was matching Max’s times, stay in the white lines!

“It was strike one, strike two, ‘Checo just stay in the white lines!’ strike three, and that was it.

“[It is] just hugely frustrating because he could have been there, he could have done it. That’s the frustration. It’s fantastic that we got the pole, but it feels not complete.”

Two-time world champion and runaway championship leader Verstappen took pole yet again, with Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz behind.

Verstappen complained afterwards of it being “very difficult” to judge track limits on the course and said “a lot of people were being caught out, including me.”

But Horner pointed out that while the Dutchman did have lap times scrubbed off, he then posted legitimate laps to ensure he would get the job done.

“At least [Max] responded to ‘stay in the white lines’ – he did that so he built a conservatism into his laps to make sure that he had a wheel inside the line,” said Horner.

He added: “It’s hugely frustrating. The frustrating thing is we know [Perez] can do it, he did a 4.9 on that lap, he was three hundredths off Max. He could have been four tenths slower and still been in.

“So Q2, that’s not the time to be doing it. That was the frustrating thing because he could have done it today.

“It is the same for everybody, there’s a car ahead which is not going to have helped but then you build in a little more margin.

“It’s annoying because we know he could have been there.”

Perez has struggled to keep up with his team-mate this season, much like the rest of the grid.

The Mexican is second in the driver standings with 126 points, 69 behind Verstappen.

“The most pressure he’s under, is the pressure he puts him under himself,” Horner continued.

“Today he had the pace, Practice One he was right there, the lap times he was doing, he was tenth for tenth with Max today. So that’s the annoying thing, that’s the frustration. He can do it.

“It’s just a great shame because I think this would have really kick-started things for him and of course, the frustration for us as a team is now we have two Ferraris a little closer versus one Red Bull with Checo out of position.”