Sergio Perez hꩵas admitted he “wasn’t there” in the Formula 1 Emilia Ro💮magna Grand Prix as a series of errors dropped him out of the points-paying positions.

After starring in qualifying, Perez struggled to capitalise on his front-row starting position to finish 11th - ꦇmoving up one place due to Kimi Raikkonen's 30-second time penalty.

Perez’s race began to unravel when he ran off the track under the Safety Car, losing two positions before repassing those two carsဣ.

The🀅 Red Bull driver was hit with 😼a 10-second stop-go penalty for re-overtaking under the Safety Car.

Perez was still in the fight for the podium, running in fourth behind Lando Norris and Charles 𒐪Leclerc after the red flag stopp💃age.

A mistake on Lap ജ38 at the exit of the Villeneuve chicane dropped him well down the order, ending his chances of a big points haul at Imola

“I’m very, very sorry ꦑfirst of all to my team because I wasn’🍨t there today,” Perez said. “There were very poor conditions which meant that I struggled to put any temperature into my tyres, so therefore the car was very difficult to drive.

“In the Safety Car I went off and came back and I got the penalty for that, which meant I lost the position to Norris and that made things tricky. Then at the end, we should have finished on the podium but then I made that 🐻mistake – and that was very costly.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was satisfied with the pace Perez showed throughout the race but admitted it was a “tough” afternoon ♌for the Mexican.

“It was tough for him,” Horner added. “He had such a good Saturday and th൩en the race just didn’t go his way this 🐈afternoon, a couple of little mistakes, particularly the spin... So tough for him. We should have taken a lot more points out of Mercedes today. But he had good pace in the race and there’s still a long, long way to go.”

Red Bull trails Mercedes by seven points in the constructors’ championship a♐fter two rounds.