Red Bull boss Christian Horner could barely contain his frustration with Sergio Perez after his mistake in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race, quipping that “you’re supposed to go” when the lights go out.

Despite signing a new two-year contract in June, Perez is highly likely to be dropped by Red Bull at the end of F1 2024 after a disastrous season, with the Mexican driver still without a podium finish since the Chinese Grand Prix in April.

Christian Horner lost for words after big Sergio Perez mistake

Perez’s woes have continued at this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the season, where he could only manage 16th place in sprint qualifying on Friday.

The 34-year-old then suffered a further double blow, with Perez forced to start from the pit lane following a parc ferme breach and hit with a reprimand for driving too slowly in sprint qualifying.

Franco Colapinto was also forced to start from the pit lane after Williams were also found to have breached parc ferme rules.

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Perez started ahead of Colapinto in the pit lane, but was slow to react to the green light appearing at the start of the race.

Colapinto pulled out from behind the Red Bull and overtook Perez for 19th place on the way out of the pit lane.

Perez went on to finish as the last of the 20 runners, having pitted late on for a new front wing as Red Bull carry out setup experiments ahead of Saturday’s main qualifying session.

Asked what happened to Perez in the pit lane at the start of the sprint, Horner appeared lost for words before telling Sky F1: “I don’t know, to be honest.

“I need to have a chat with him about it. It looked like he just misjudged it.

“But when the light goes out, you’re supposed to go.”

Speaking to DAZN Spain after the sprint, Perez pinned the blame for his slow getaway on “very cold” tyres having been sent to the end of the pit lane almost five minutes before the race started.

He said: “The main goal today was to run in clean air for as long as possible, so I was slow at the start.

“Franco was behind and I was on a very cold tyre because I spent almost five minutes waiting outside behind the traffic light.

“The important thing for us today was to find a good balance in clean air as long as possible. We tried different front wings as well, so there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Colapinto, who was still running ahead of Perez on track at the time the Red Bull man pitted and eventually finished 18th, was amused by the incident.

Asked what happened at the start by DAZN Spain, he laughed: “I don’t know, it seems like Checo wasn’t looking at the traffic light!

“No, surely he was trying to get into first gear because sometimes it takes a while.

“I was ready to go, had much more temperature on the tyres as he was there waiting a few minutes before me, so I had more grip and at least I recovered a place there.”

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