Karun Chandhok agrees ‘100%’ with angry Sergio Perez message in Sao Paulo GP qualifying

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Sergio Perez was not happy with his Red Bull team after being eliminated during qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Both Perez and Max Verstappen will start outside of the top ten with the Mexican down in P12, while the latter will take a five-place grid penalty which puts him P17 on the grid.

The pair had been completing their laps in the second part of qualifying when a red flag came out for Lance Stroll, who crashed his Aston Martin at the Curva do Sol.

Verstappen was livid with the decision and questioned why it took Race Control over 30 seconds to decide to stop the session when it was clear Stroll was not able to get back under his own power.

Perez also criticised his team for their timing at the end of the session, something Karun Chandhok agreed with when commentating on the session for Sky Sports.

Sergio Perez criticises team for Sao Paulo Grand Prix qualifying error

Q2 had already been stopped due to a crash from Carlos Sainz at the Senna ‘S’ which is why Red Bull was faced with the decision of when to send their cars back out.

Most teams were already queuing at the end of the pit lane and Red Bull decided to send them out at the back of the queue, however that meant the tyre temperatures dropped as they built up a gap in the pit lane.

Perez felt they should have kept him and Verstappen in the garage where they could have put the tyres under the blankets, and was livid over team radio when speaking to engineer Hugh Bird.

Chandhok felt Perez was right and also questioned Red Bull’s tactics considering the improvements made by other drivers in the session.

“I agree with Checo, he’s absolutely right because we saw Ferrari wait a minute with Charles Leclerc. He went out and did a 1:26.097s and got himself into P6 and into Q3. So I 100% agree with Perez,” said Chandhok.

Red Bull faces a difficult recovery from outside the top 10 places in Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Red Bull is facing a tough afternoon with both their cars starting outside of the top 10 places due to the error in qualifying.

Verstappen is further back on the grid owing to his penalty and will need to make progress in what is likely to be a wet race, if he wants to limit the damage done by polesitter and title rival Lando Norris.

Norris could potentially win the race and get the bonus point for fastest lap, which if Verstappen fails to score, would put him within 21 points in the final three races.

It will be all to play for between McLaren and Red Bull in what is set to be a fascinating race at Interlagos in this tight title battle.