Perez criticised: "I understand South America is important to Red Bull'

Sergio Perez did not come close to teammate Max Verstappen during sprint qualifying. Where the Dutchman got to start Saturday's sprint race from pole position, the Mexican had to settle for seventh starting position. Robert Doornbos saw that the gap between Perez and Verstappen was far too big.

As much as 1.3 seconds was between Verstappen and his teammate during Friday's sprint qualifying in Spielberg. That's way too much, judges Doornbos at the table of Ziggo Sport's Race Café. "Yes, that's ridiculous. You really don't get that explained, not to your engineers, and not to anyone," said the former Formula One driver.

"You go to the pits and then you just want to go straight to your hotel and disappear. This gap is too big. It is definitely not starting to be a performance result anymore. It's more of a political and financial thing. South America is important for Red Bull, I understand it all, but you can't explain it," Doornbos concluded.