Sauber have confirmed that Sergio Perez, who suffered a heavy accident in the final minutes of qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, will not take part in the race tomorrow.
The Mexican was having the strongest qualifying performance of his fledgling Formula 1 career this afternoon before the accident, setting the ninth fastest time in Q2. Sauber earlier reported that Perez suffered only concussion and a bruised thigh in the accident. So far they have no evidence of a technical failure on the car, but are continuing their investigations.
Team-mate Kamui Kobayashi will start the race from thirteenth. He said that he was still having problems with the set-up of his car going into qualifying this afternoon, and also expressed his relief that Perez was not seriously injured.
“Sergio's accident was, of course, a shock and I'm obviously happy he has no severe injuries,” said Kobayashi. “In the beginning I didn't know about the accident because I had been taken for a doping test.
“In qualifying I still had difficulties with my car, which kept bouncing too much despite some further set-up changes we did in the third free practice. Nevertheless, from my grid position points are within reach and this is what I'm heading for tomorrow.”
Eponymous Team Principal Peter Sauber suspects that Kobayashi will be able to find his way through the field tomorrow, and also expressed his relief at the news on Perez.
“Of course we are very relieved that Sergio wasn't seriously injured,” he said. “Up to the accident he was doing very well in qualifying, and also better than expected as he had outperformed all his direct competitors. For Kamui it didn't go too well in qualifying, but we know what his skills are and expect them to play a role in tomorrow's race.”
