Sergio Perez fumed at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix stewards over the radio after a penalty which denied the Red Bull racer a podium finish for colliding with Lando Norris
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix stewards have officially warned Sergio Perez for his outburst over the radio following the race.
The only winner on the road was Max Verstappen, and the Mexican came in second. However, when a five-second time penalty was applied, he lost to both George Russell and Charles Leclerc, who were trailing him closely.
That had been given earlier for a clash with Lando Norris. The two drivers bumped wheels as Perez attempted an overtake, forcing the McLaren man off the track.
Perez felt Norris had gone off the track and gained an advantage by doing so. But he was the one who was given the penalty by the stewards as they felt he had caused an unnecessary collision.
He tried his best to make sure that it wouldn’t matter but could not do enough. In the end, both Leclerc and Russell were within four seconds of his Red Bull and so he was denied a podium spot which he felt should have been his.
Perez vented his frustration over the radio on the in-lap. “I mean, the stewards are a joke, man,” he ranted. “I cannot believe, I mean, they have been very bad this year, but this is a joke. That was really a joke.”
He was critical again in his post-race interview. “We deserved a lot more today,” he fumed. “I think the stewards were very poor today, in my opinion. That, to me… we’ve seen a lot worse. We touched tyre to tyre, Lando cut the corner, gained time and I still had the penalty.”
Asked if he could have left Norris more space, Perez added: “Yeah, but you’ve got to remember that, when you dive from behind when you go onto the brakes late, you are not in full control of the car. Lando knew I was there and he decided to turn in. We made contact tyre-to-tyre, like I said, and he cut the corner and gained time. I just felt, in my honest opinion, that it was just a racing incident.”
Perez was called before the stewards, who naturally disapproved of his remarks made in public. Additionally, they took care to discipline the 33-year-old by issuing him a formal warning for his outbursts.
The stewards acknowledged that Perez apologized to them all in a “genuine and sincere” way and acknowledged that he had made his criticism “in the heat of the moment.” Because of these things and his prior “extremely respectful” behavior, the stewards decided Perez did not need to receive any more punishment beyond his warning.