Sergio Perez has admitted he “wasn’t there” in th🌃e Formula 1 Emilia Romagna 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 ꦦ- moving up one place due to Kimi Raikkonen's 3🃏0-second time penalty.

Perez’s race began to unravel when he ran off the track under th💦e Safety Car, losing two positions b🌞efore repassing those two cars.

The Red Bull driver was hit w🐭ith 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 behi💦nd Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc after the red flag stoppage.

A mista𓂃ke on Lap 38 at the exit of the Villeneuve chicane dropped 𓃲him well down the order, ending his chances of a big points haul at Imola

“I’m very, very sorry first 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, whic🌠h meant I lost the position to Norris and that made things tricky. Then at the end, we should have fini💃shed on the podium but then I made that mistake – and that was very costly.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was sa🃏tisfied 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 then 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 constructorꦛs’ championship after two rounds.