Perez: 'Imola was the last place I wanted to be'

Sergio Perez's first qualifying session for Red Bull Racing didn't turn out the way he wanted. On the Bahrain circuit, his gamble on medium tyres backfired and he didn't even reach Q3. It also didn't help that his RB16B broke down completely on the way to the start of the Grand Prix.

The Mexican was therefore not particularly looking forward to the Grand Prix weekend in Imola. "If there's one place you don't want to go for your second race with a new team, it's probably Imola. It's one of the hardest circuits to put a lap together. Everything is so tight, you're millimetres away from the grass all the time," Perez told the FIA Press Conference After the qualifying session.

Lessons learned in qualifying

Despite fearing for his performance on the Imola circuit, the Mexican surprised just about everyone in qualifying. Indeed, he set the second fastest time and was faster than teammate Max Verstappen. "It was a good session from our side, every time I'm in the car I make big steps. I learn something new every time and that's very good," Perez continued.

Although happy with his second place on the grid, the Mexican feels there could have been more. He said he made a mistake on the last lap of qualifying, which had potential: "Enough to be on pole position".