Sergio Perez has teased that Red Bull has adopted a “changed strategy” in order to counter the high tyre degradation expected in Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix.
Red Bull had seemed on the back foot throughout practice at the Albert Park Circuit against Ferrari, who topped the second and third sessions with Charles Leclerc.
But while Carlos Sainz maintained the Italian marque foothold at the front in Q1 and Q2, Max Verstappen produced a storming lap to continue Red Bull’s flawless run.
Sainz at least split the Red Bull drivers on the grid, with Perez rueing not optimising the first sector on his final run as he ended 0.359 seconds down on his team-mate.
However, Perez has been demoted three places on the grid for tomorrow’s race as the Stewards deemed that he had impeded Nico Hulkenberg on a timed lap in Q1.
“I think definitely there was a bit more in it,” Perez reflected prior to the news that he would drop back to the third row. “My first sector was not great, especially Turn 1.
“I think on my final attempt, I didn’t hook up the whole combination, which straightaway is a tenth, a tenth-and-a-half.
“But I’m happy. I think given how we’ve been during the weekend, it’s been a very nice progression.
“I think tomorrow we got to fight on our hands to the Ferrari and to the rest of the field because I think the degradation is going to be very high.
“So I think, yeah, starting position is not that relevant at the moment.”
Despite missing out on a front-row start before he was penalised, Perez believes that the anticipated severe degradation will create opportunities to climb the order.
“I think it’s been a very tricky qualifying with the tyres, just getting the best out of them and through the lap,” Perez explained.
“In all different sectors the requirements seem to be very different, sector to sector.
“So I think overall, yeah, I think definitely P2 was achievable today, but I think Max, the lap he did was quite strong.
“But I’m not too concerned. I think it’s going to be a long race tomorrow. Degradation is going to be very high.
“So I think as long as we are able to have good pace in the race, we should be able to come through.”
With Pirelli opting to bring the Softest compounds in its range and a two-stop anticipated, Perez has suggested that Red Bull has adopted a set-up to ease degradation.
When asked about Red Bull’s straight-line speed advantage helping to strike a balance between attacking and managing, Perez replied: “Yeah, we will find out tomorrow.
“I think we’ve changed a bit our strategy for tomorrow and let’s see who can survive the most on the degradation side.”
Verstappen revealed that minor tweaks to his RB20 ahead of the pole position shootout placed his car into the sweet spot Red Bull had struggled to find in practice.
Perez concurred with the Dutchman that it had been a challenging weekend for the Austrian outfit, with the Mexican hoping his choice aids his prospects tomorrow.
“It hasn’t been a straightforward weekend,” Perez admitted. “I think we’ve been playing around with where we started on the base set-up and where we ended up.
“We’ve changed quite a bit. Just chasing the balance, chasing trying to have the degradation for tomorrow.
“We’ve done some bits and we’ll see what we are able to do. If the things we’ve done will have an impact on degradation tomorrow.”
