Sergio Perez embarrassingly hands Red Bull’s rivals a huge advantage

Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen claimed a sensational pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday, whilst Sergio Perez handed a huge advantage to Red Bull’s rivals.



Verstappen’s pole lap at the Circuit de Monaco was perhaps the greatest of his Formula 1 career, with the Dutchman having found three-tenths of a second in the final sector to snatch pole position from Fernando Alonso.



The 25-year-old secured pole by just under a tenth of a second, with his team-mate having handed him the chance to massively extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.



Verstappen has an incredible chance to increase his lead over Perez to potentially 40 points on Sunday, should he claim his fourth victory of the season and the fastest lap.







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The two-time World Champion will head into Sunday’s sixth race of the 2023 season as the clear favourite, with Perez to start from last.



For the second time this season already, Perez was eliminated in Q1 after being forced to retire from qualifying in the opening minutes, this time following a heavy collision with the wall at the opening corner.



After setting just one push lap, Perez entered Sainte Devote with far too much speed, resulting in the rear-end of his RB19 stepping out on him.



Given the tight nature of the legendary venue, the rear of Perez’s car slammed into the wall on the outside of the corner, causing significant damage to the entire left-hand side of his RB19.



Perez’s car became stationary in the middle of the circuit as a result, causing an instant red flag.




#Ferrari boss piles pressure on Charles #Leclerc and Carlos Sainz https://t.co/dMjPnWmvOo — Formula1News.co.uk (@Formula1newsUK) May 27, 2023




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What happened next will have certainly caught the attention of the entire paddock, with Perez’s car having been lifted into the air to remove it from the circuit, meaning the floor of the RB19 was on show for everyone to see.



This will perhaps have given Red Bull’s rivals an insight into how the RB19 has been so dominant this season, with the Austrians likely to be infuriated at Checo for crashing so early in qualifying.



Photos of Perez’s car high in the air quickly circulated on social media, with the paddock now being able to study the images to see some of Adrian Newey’s innovations, with Mercedes’ floor also being all over social media after Lewis Hamilton’s car was lifted to safety at the end of Free Practice 3.




ANOTHER FLOOR EXPOSED. RED BULL. #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/g8gHpRHizo — tami. (@Vetteleclerc) May 27, 2023

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