Sergio Perez has revealed that Red Bull fitted his car with the rear wing originally used by Max Verstappen prior to qualifying in Mexico, after the Dutchman experienced issues.

Sergio Perez has disclosed that his car was fitted with the rear wing used by teammate Max Verstappen in the build-up to qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix after the Dutch driver complained of concerns.

Perez had set the quickest time in third practice ahead of Verstappen, who had a problem with his rear wing.

Red Bull mechanics were observed reinforcing the rear wings on both cars ahead of qualifying, where Perez and Verstappen appeared to lose their way and fell below Mercedes’ performance.

“The car was simply not the same as in the third practice,” Perez explained.

“This came after we had to replace the rear wing. Max had a problem with his wing in third practice and they gave that wing to me.”

“Car wasn’t the same as before”

Perez finished fourth in Q3, behind Verstappen and both Mercedes drivers, after having the better of Verstappen in third practice.

He revealed that the car didn’t handle as well as it been before.

“I don’t know, from the first qualifying round the car was simply not the same as before,” he said.

Red Bull was seen working on both Perez and Verstappen’s rear wings during qualifying, including taping the flaps.

When asked if this could have slowed the team and why the work was being done, team manager Christian Horner said they just wanted a little extra reinforcing on the rear wing and downplayed the impact on performance.

“We saw something in FP3 that we just wanted to add a bit of protection into those rear wings,” he explained .

“It was more precautionary than anything else, so nothing that would affect the performance.

“We were just concerned with a bit of fatigue that we’ve seen. Nothing serious, but we just wanted to take no risk on it.”

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