Sergio Perez has been given a seven-place grid penalty for the next round of the championship after colliding with Adrian Sutil on the first lap of the United States Grand Prix.
The stewards deemed his attempted overtaking move on the Sauber driver “reckless” and said Perez “could not reasonably have expected to complete the manoeuvre”.
In addition to his grid penalty, Perez was given two penalty points on his driving licence, the first he has received this season.
Perez said the collision was “unfortunate” and said the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen had contributed to the accident.
“I made a move on Adrian at turn 15 when he left the door open, so I went up the inside. Then Adrian started to close the door and I had to try and brake later than him. By doing so I was unable to avoid contact with Kimi, which caused me to make contact with Adrian also. I just didn’t expect Kimi to be in that position.”
“It’s a big shame because I had a great chance to keep up my run of points finishes and I was determined to do well in such an important race. I feel very sorry for all my fans who came to support me this weekend and I’m disappointed I could not give them a race to remember.”
Sutil, who started from Sauber’s highest grid position so far this year, described the contact as “completely needless”.
“It is very disappointing that we missed our biggest chance of points because of this move,” he added.
Three other drivers received penalty points after the race. Jean-Eric Vergne, Pastor Maldonado and Esteban Gutierrez were each given one point for failing to to slow sufficiently during the Safety Car period. Maldonado is now on five points, Vergne two and Gutierrez one.
The stewards also confirmed Daniil Kvyat will also be relegated seven places on the grid in Brazil. He was given a ten-place penalty for an engine change this weekend but only lost three places.
2014 United States Grand Prix
Image © Force India
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd November 2014, 0:18
Why 7 ?
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
3rd November 2014, 0:20
I guess it would have been 10 but that might seem to harsh with the 18 car grid.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
3rd November 2014, 0:21
*too
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd November 2014, 0:32
@hunocsi seems rather “precise”, doesn’t it? I’ve never seen a 7 place grid penalty. 5 or 10 yeah, but 7?
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
3rd November 2014, 1:10
@fer-no65 Either a lottery, random pick, or a ‘toning down from 10’ to match the grid being ‘toned down from 22 to 18 cars’ no doubt…
@HoHum (@hohum)
3rd November 2014, 0:21
Yeah, it was all Kimis fault.
I guess Perez is looking for the Comedian of the year award.
DCComics
3rd November 2014, 1:29
Well, he didn’t say it was kimi’s fault, just that he didn’t expect kimi to be there. Still, that move was a bit too eager, I guess hunger without control is not a good thing…
MarkM
3rd November 2014, 15:16
He didn’t say it was HIS fault either, which anyone with vision can agree it was. You know, Perez is a little screaming girl when someone hits him but he’s like a church mouse that runs for his little hole to hide when he is in the wrong, which has happened more then once this season and ruined other drivers races.
DCComics
3rd November 2014, 15:26
Well, not really, I read an interview (in spanish) where he clearly admitted he was responsible for the crash. Someone also interviewed him during the race, where he also acknowledged the crash was his fault.
Ricosaurus
3rd November 2014, 2:02
In what part of “I was unable to avoid contact with Kimi” or “I didn’t expect Kimi to be in that position” does he put the blame on the Fin? In the TV interview afterwards he admitted clearly (in Spanish) “It was all my fault”. Unheard behaviour on the many prima donnas we have at F1
John H (@john-h)
5th November 2014, 13:12
I couldn’t believe he didn’t apologise for ruining Sutil’s race in that interview.
Very poor form.
Breno (@austus)
3rd November 2014, 0:31
Remember last year in Monaco, when it was Kimi’s fault too?
MattyPF1 (@mattypf1)
3rd November 2014, 4:06
@austus that’s because it was Kimi’s fault. While Perez was going for a risky move, Kimi should’ve been looking in his mirrors (which he clearly didn’t)
Mr win or lose
3rd November 2014, 9:19
When he squeezed Pérez to prevent a do-or-die attack? Maybe it wasn’t the brightest thing to do, but otherwise he would have had to cut the chicane to avoid contact, which would have cost him the position anyway.
matiascasali (@matiascasali)
3rd November 2014, 1:08
Here, in Argentina, the broadcast is terrible latin-america biased, to the point of absurdity: they’ve blamed Kimi instantly for the colision, but, after that, a journalist from the network got an interview with checo, who in clear spanish said: “yes, it was my fault” and nothing else, he didn’t say anything on Kimi, and the local journos then kept their mouth shouted about that issue. It’s quite clear that Carlos Slim, one of perez sponsors, pays an awful lot of money (you can see the Claro ads all over the race) it’s so frustrating to have such a bad bad BAD pundits around here…
Andrei (@andrei)
3rd November 2014, 2:21
@matiascasali I didn’t get that from what I’ve heard from them during the race, and I’m pretty sure I watch the same broadcast that you do. Maybe I missed something (Actually I was paying more attention to pit activity and Hamilton-related consequences). But I have to agree with you that in most cases they tend to favour to any latin-american driver in this kind of incidents. It’s a bit of annoying, but I don’t think that is because of drivers sponsors, journalists sometimes forget their role and act as simple supporters. I don’t praise that behaviour, but it’s the way it is.
Coppilcus
3rd November 2014, 3:33
At any point or stage of the race they said nothing in favour of Perez or making the slightest attempt to blame Kimi for the incident, in fact they acknowledge the mistake from Perez and remarked that statement when Perez was interviewed during the race.
matiascasali (@matiascasali)
3rd November 2014, 11:58
indeed they did. THey’ve blamed Kimi as soon as the crash occured, and kept looking the way to blame him until Checo himself said it was his fault, and then, they just kept quiet. they always do things like that (like last year at Monaco, for example) and the way they “translate” the radio messages is infuriating, because they’re a nostalgic old men, they long for the big gas guzzlers V10 and as soon as someone say something about fuel they start complaining about the new set of rules, even when yesterday Jock said to Lewis “you’re safe on fuel” and he did a new fastest lap, they kept saying that lewis was on fuel conservation. they’re really unprofessional…
Andrei (@andrei)
3rd November 2014, 21:40
@matiascasali I did notice the Hamilton fuel comments, and yes, that made sooo angry. :D
coppilcus
5th November 2014, 17:53
Well, then you’re watching another broadcast my friend. I heard nothing that suggest they blame Kimi, they said that Perez was way too much optimistic over that move and that the contact with the finn launch Perez into Sutil.
Do you really think their poor translations of radio messages are because they would love to see the V10 in F1 again? That’s the best they can do… Tornello was probably learning english at the age of 50 and the other ones don’t help either, what do you expect to be the outcome?
Andrei (@andrei)
3rd November 2014, 2:00
I’m very surprised to read this. I watched an after-race interview where Perez blamed himself for that incident. Even the TV commentators got it that way, and praised Perez for being honest about that move.
A misguided translation maybe? Anyways, I don’t think Perez deserve some harsh comments already posted here… By saying that he didn’t expect Kimi to be in that position he’s not necessary meaning that is Kimi’s fault.
@keithcollantine, can you please provide us the link of the original statement, if it exists?
bosyber (@bosyber)
3rd November 2014, 7:39
To be fair @andrei, the article says that the fact Kimi’s Ferrari was there played a role in Perez hitting Sutil, Perez doesn’t say or indicate that Kimi was at fault for being there. I’d argue Perez admits he wasn’t aware enough of what was happening around him on track well enough, and that explains why he wrongly thought he could pull off something.
George (@george)
3rd November 2014, 17:37
Fair enough, it’s an easy mistake to make at that corner.
Patrick (@paeschli)
3rd November 2014, 21:02
“The stewards also confirmed Daniil Kvyat will also be relegated ten places on the grid in Brazil. He was given a ten-place penalty for an engine change this weekend but only lost three places.”
@keithcollantine typo: 7 instead of 10 for Kvyat in Brazil I suppose?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
4th November 2014, 8:40
@paeschli Fixed, thanks.
Marcio Neves - RJ/RJ
3rd November 2014, 23:00
Wait, so Vergne has two points? But the page with the stats says he has 3. Which is correct?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
4th November 2014, 8:40
Vergne has three penalty points. This article was written before the information about his other penalty point was issued.
George O'Donnell (@georgeod)
4th November 2014, 22:12
I saw this happen whilst at T15. It was clearly Perez’s fault – way way way too optimistic about passing there.