Perez “couldn’t feel” loss of Red Bull F1 engine cover in Bahrain test

Sergio Perez says he “couldn’t feel” when his Formula 1 engine cover spectacularly obliterated during the second day of testing in Bahrain.

Perez was about to overtake the Williams of Nicholas Latifi on the start-finish straight but when he ducked out of the Canadian’s slipstream, the change in air pressure caused the engine cover on the Red Bull RB16B to fall off.

This resulted in a brief red flag period as the track was cleared and Perez returned to the pit lane.

Speaking of the incident, Perez said: “Not really, as you saw on the TV, I couldn’t feel when that happened, just the car felt a bit more difficult, but other than that I think the team is sorting it out, we didn’t lose much track time actually, was the same for everyone as there was a red flag.

“Overall given that we lost some track time earlier in the morning I think overall it has been a good day, conditions are very tricky out there, very different to yesterday, so yeah plenty of work and developing to do there on.”

Despite the issue, Perez was able to complete 117 laps on his first official day for Red Bull.

The Mexican finished eighth fastest overall in the RB16B, 1.3s off the pace set by Valtteri Bottas.

Looking ahead to the final day of testing, Perez added: “Well it’s always when you are so track limited you know, this is my final day, well tomorrow I have the morning, it’s not ideal missing any track time but I think we’ve done alright and hopefully tomorrow we can do even more

“I’m getting used to it, obviously I can see the potential in the car, and yeah just looking forward to it.”