Perez had shown some promising pace during the early stages of qualifying, but after the penultimate set of laps in Q2 he was sitting down in P6 in what was a risky position.
Despite this, Red Bull opted not to send him out for another run and when the chequered flag dropped, he had tumbled down to 12th in the order, leading to an early elimination.
The 33-year-old was audibly confused with the decision not to go out again when he came back into the pit lane. Ultimately that cost him dearly, although he will be promoted to P11 on the grid for the race thanks to Carlos Sainz’s grid penalty.
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