CANADA – The last practice of the Canadian Grand Prix 2023 of F1 was not the best for Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez; after he did not find the pace under the rain that fell on the Montreal circuit to finish in 17th place. Max Verstappen was the fastest.
Likewise, Fernando Alonso was the first driver to use intermediate tires and set the best time with 1:32.217. His teammate Lance Stroll also used the same tires and was in the middle of the table.
So the drivers switched to intermediate tires, where Charles Leclerc set the best time with 1:25.724, followed by Carlos Sainz. Max Verstappen was fifth, and Sergio Perez eighth.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen took the lead with a time of 1:24.480 while the Mexican driver struggled.
With less than 15 minutes left in the session, the double world champion improved his time by 1:23.154, taking more than a second off his closest pursuer, Carlos Sainz.
However, Verstappen did not tire of improving his time and lowered it to 1:23.106.
Pit stop for Checo, Max also heading in! #FP2 pic.twitter.com/3qBMKpZG65
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— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) June 16, 2023
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Similarly, the RB19 of ‘Checo’ Perez pitted when he was in 17th place, almost three seconds off Verstappen’s time.
Checo questioned Red Bull Racing about his car’s problems
“I didn’t like where we ended with the car, but we couldn’t change. I think we have a lot of room for improvement in the car,” said the driver from Guadalajara in an interview with Fox Sports.
But not only that. Checo Perez questioned the interruptions he had during Free Practice. Despite this, he remains optimistic ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix in Canada.
“There were a lot of interruptions. It’s very difficult to understand, especially in race distance, because the rain came in the last laps, and we went out very late to run with full tanks,” he said.
In Free Practice 3 before Qualifying, Sergio Perez finished in 17th place, while his teammate, Max Verstappen, finished in first place, followed by Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso.