The under-pressure Mexico, fresh from crashing out of his home race last weekend, was a disappointing ninth in a dramat🌜ic, rain-affected qualifying in Brazil after seeing his only Q3 lap ruined by a spin for Oscar Piastri. 

Perez was one of the last drivers out of the p꧟its and was🎀 forced to abandon his lap when Piastri ran wide at the final corner, resulting in yellow flags. 

Up until that point, Perez was convinced his lap would have been good enough to join Red Bu🌠ll teammate Max Verstappe🙈n, who claimed pole position, on the front row for Sunday’s race. 

Q3 was brought to an early end🐎 when heavy rain lashed down on the Interlagos circuit, preventing the field from completing a second run. 

"We were just incredibly unlucky today,” Pe♋rez told Sky.&n🦄bsp;

“I should have been on the front row. My lap was very cloꦐse to Max's until the last corner and I found Piastri, so I had to back off my lap. 

“That meant that I was just P-nowhere. Very unfor♕tunate because it♛ felt like we had a lot better today.”

Perez will start the gr🌌and prix four places behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who he is 20 points ahead of in the battle to sec🍒ure second place in the drivers’ championship. 

“There are some good points and good opportunities to race from here,” he ꧅added. 

Perez’s future remains the subject of intense speculation amid his ongoing form slump, though Red Bull have denied that he must secure 🅠runner-up spot behind Verstappen to be retaine🌟d for 2024.