Stroll on Perez crash: ‘It was my corner’

2017 Chinese Grand Prix

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Lance Stroll blamed Sergio Perez for the collision which caused his lap one retirement from the Chinese Grand Prix.

The stewards took no action over the collision between the pair but Stroll said the Force India driver took him out.

2017 Chinese Grand Prix in pictures
“I was hit from the rear at turn ten and that was the end of my race,” he said. “I was in front, knew the corner was mine and had to turn in eventually.”

“It was just unfortunate as that was my race over. I got hit and then the car was broken, most likely with a puncture and damaged suspension.”

However Perez suspect his rival simply hadn’t realised he was there.

“I made a very poor start and lost five or six places before turn one,” he explained. “As soon as I dropped the clutch, I went into wheel spin.”

“I recovered some places during lap one, but then there was contact with Stroll in turn ten, which gave me a puncture. I don’t think he saw me on the inside because he didn’t give me any space.”

Stroll is yet to finish a race following his first two starts but felt his second grand prix weekend had shown promise after reaching Q3 in qualifying.

“While today was difficult, we have some positives to take out of this weekend, as the qualifying was good even if the race was not what we wanted,” he said. “But it is still early days and there are a lot more opportunities.”

2017 Chinese Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
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    77 comments on “Stroll on Perez crash: ‘It was my corner’”

    1. Perez hit little boy nervous…but Stroll never heared of spatial awareness

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        9th April 2017, 18:34

        @SummerNever

        Rookie error… from Perez :-)

      2. The right perspective to adopt is to ask oneself if Perez has ever “heared” that eliminating his rivals by hitting them is against the rules. His history suggests he hasn’t.

    2. I’m not sure about that. Perez come through like a train when there was 50+ laps to go. Perez should have been penalised.

      1. +1 Reggie747, i wouldnt have had a problem with it in the later stages of the race, but on lap one, i know there collisions are more likely from the start, but that seemed like a big shove looking at the view from the onboard cam of strolls car. – and then we never got to have a look at the on board view from perez. so

        1. In fact, we did get to see the onboard view of Perez. Stroll turned in from quite wide to take the turn. As the great Senna said “If you no longer go for a gap which exists you are no longer a racing driver”. There sure was a gap there. And any other driver on the grid would have gone for it.
          It was a racing incident as far as I am concerned.

          1. As the Great senna said *to justify crashing Prost out on purpose*

    3. With overtaking very much more difficult this drivers will be desperate, especially those who make poor starts:

      “I made a very poor start and lost five or six places before turn one,” Perez explained.”

    4. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      9th April 2017, 12:14

      Tough racing incident to call really. I don’t really think it was an overtaking place if I had to make a decision. There’s only one real line through that 90 degree corner, it was a big risk from Perez. I think a lot more experienced drivers than Stroll would have been caught out not knowing Perez was there as well.

      1. Not a tough call at all imho.

        Perez had the inside and more importantly: over half his car alongside Stroll going into T10. The rules say that if a ‘significant’ part of the frontwing is alongside the front running car should leave a car width of space.

        I like the more leniant attitude from the stewards, only penalizing when 1 driver is clearly in the wrong, but here I think that was clearly the case.

        To me it’s clear Stroll should have yielded and to me he should have been penalized.

        1. +1 First commenter i’ve seen that actually knows the racing rules, 100% strolls fault here, the only reason he didn’t get penalized is because the incident itself was more than sufficient penalty for him. The fact that it’s not a place you usually overtake is irrelevant, there was more than enough space for two cars through that corner, it’s not monaco.

    5. angelic (@angelicdarkness)
      9th April 2017, 12:38

      This guy belongs in a trash bin seriously. Daddy rich gets him everything he wants otherwise he throws toys out if his pram.

    6. Having watched it from Perez’s onboard, Stroll had more than enough time to realise that he was alongside him. Racing incident, but certainly can’t blame Perez for it.

      1. i agree. Perez was already there right next to stroll, the corner before. Stroll just takes that second corner on the inside. No idea what Perez could have done. Racing incident.

      2. Perez can’t just put his car on the inside line and expect other people to let him pass. You need to be ahead to have the right to the racing line. Being inside is NOT a reason for other drivers to yield.

        1. Still turning into another car isnt the answear especially since its just lack of awareness.

        2. But Perez was alongside enough that Stroll had to leave him enough room. It’s not about the fact Perez was on the inside but more he got left no room.

        3. Ferrari, Seb fan
          9th April 2017, 18:15

          He shouldn’t let perez pass bu he sould leave a cars width. Perez is not to blame

          1. Ferrari, Seb fan
            9th April 2017, 18:16

            *But

          2. @patrickl This is why

            He shouldn’t let perez pass but he sould leave a cars width.

        4. Yeah, Normally I’d agree with Stroll, but the way he tries to turn in two movements makes it hard to put the blame on Pérez.

          It seems like Stroll has trouble judging acceleration more than any other aspect of these cars. He knew where the Force India was, but he acted like he thought it wouldn’t get to the space he opened up in time to be a threat.

          Not a bad driver, just way too inexperienced for the current generation of drivers, most of whom have a huge bag o’tricks.

          1. Perez rammed into the back of Stroll. How can that ever be his fault? Perez was just way too opportunistic.

            It’s hilarious that of all people Perez blames Stroll though. He did much worse to Massa in Canada and he claimed he wasn’t at fault at all and blamed Massa for the incident.

        5. You’re wrong. Being alongside another car CAN be enough reason to expect the other driver to yield, if you are on the racing line. And Perez was: the inside of the corner is the racing line.
          This happens time and again, and more often than not the stewards get it right: if you’re on the inside of a corner, you have the right of way, as it were.

          1. No I’m not. It’s nonsense that the inside line gives you precedence. That was amply illustrated by the penalties which Rosberg incurred for that belief.

            More oftne than not the stewards understand that the guy in FRONT has the right to the line. If you go on the outside and you are in FRONT, the overtaken car is not allowed to squeeze you off. If the car IN FRONT is on the inside line he IS allowed to squeeze the other car off.

            It’s this complete lack of understanding of the basic rules that keeps people here complaining that the rules are not applied consistently. They usually are, but people often (and even drivers) don’t seem to understand the rules.

            Which makes sense in a way since they are not written down as such, but they are explained in the rulings. So if you actually follow F1 you “know”.

      3. You’re obviously watching through some heavily tinted glasses because if you watch it from Stroll’s onboard camera, you immediately realise that Checo never was in view in Stroll’s rear-view mirrors. Furthermore, because Checo took a very unusual inside line – which incidentally would necessitate the outside for the exit, the outside already occupied by Stroll – he came up through the dead angle. Race incident? Ok, but it’s really down to Perez having lost six places at the start and taking an extravagant chance in the hope of bluffing Stroll to give up the spot. On this occasion, Stroll is blameless.

      4. Agree. I think it was a little ambitious from Perez, but nonetheless, Stroll definitely didn’t have his eyes on the rear view mirror and he could have easily take a wider line to avoid making contact and himself out of the race. Stroll has no one but himself to blame for not finishing the race.

    7. Sviatoslav (@)
      9th April 2017, 13:30

      Perez hit the other driver and gained a position. I don’t get why Perez wasn’t penalised.

      1. Perez didn’t hit Stroll. Stroll wasn’t using his mirrors. The accident seemed to take a long time to happen.
        Stroll needs to learn there are no guarantees on the race track.

        1. From Perez’s onboard camera it looked like Stroll was trying to run over the FI’s front right tyre. A sudden move to the left while Perez was keeping his line.

          (Having said this, I must confess I’m a little bit prejudiced against Stroll… ;) )

      2. It’s lap 1, you need to be aware of other drivers arround you. Stroll his already making statements that it was ‘his’ corner. The problem is that he does not seem to get you don’t own corners on lap one, especially when it’s damp, and you can be overtaken at any corner.

        1. More blinkered fans with a defective awareness of what is visible through rear-view mirrors what is not and what racing lines are and entail. See above! On this occasion Checo took a chance and Stroll is not to blame.

      3. Under the previous year’s rules, Sergio probably would have picked up a penalty. Before this year, stewards only needed to be reasonably sure that some fault was applicable before issuing a penalty. Now they have to be sure that an accident was predominantly one driver’s fault.

        At a guess, I’d say the incident here was 40/20/40 – 40% Perez’s fault for trying a low-percentage move, 20% Stroll’s for lack of situational awareness and 40% unfortunate coincidences, probability that each move seemed sensible at the time and mitigating factors (such as uncertain grip levels). Last year, that would have been read as 67/33 against Perez and a penalty would likely have resulted. This year, the mitigating factors element made things sufficiently ambiguous that no penalty was awardable.

    8. Andre Furtado
      9th April 2017, 13:57

      Stroll should leave driving to real drivers. Maybe his dad can buy him bumper cars.

    9. Ban pay drivers.

      I cannot believe this guy is in F1, he’s crashed more times than the entire field has the past few races.

      Have to admire the quality of the grid on the whole. Gems but for a Palmer, Ericson and of course, Stroll.

    10. Michael Brown (@)
      9th April 2017, 15:10

      From the stewards’ decisions of the past few years, Stroll did nothing wrong. The stewards see the car ahead and on the racing line, Stroll, as being entitled to that line and that means they can push other drivers off and be absolved from wrongdoing in an incident such as this.

      That is how the stewards apply the rules. In my opinion, it’s dirty driving to close the door on somebody or push them off because you’re on the racing line, and that makes you special.

      1. I think I agree with that @mbr-9, and I certainly think Williams will say that to stroll too.

        Still, he could have given more space, but Perez words indicate he too knows he might have been a bit eager; but, with the newly relaxed incident rules, it isn’t so odd both got off without a penalty, it was a racing incident where there wasn’t one driver who was completely out of line.

    11. Neil (@neilosjames)
      9th April 2017, 16:03

      I’d say a driver is entitled to take a normal racing line if he has his nose ahead, even if it means squeezing out a rival… but doing so in a situation where you’re almost certainly the one who’ll lose out isn’t the best idea in the world. So while I don’t think Stroll did anything wrong, if he saw that Perez was there he did something a little bit silly. You only cut across a nose if you’re confident the other guy will back out, and a fellow midfielder isn’t likely to do that.

      But overall, racing incident, and no blame to either driver.

      1. Neil (@neilosjames)
        9th April 2017, 16:07

        Oh, forgot to say – Perez also did something a bit silly. You don’t stick your nose in unless you’re sure the other guy will both see you and give you room, and I can’t imagine he can have been sure of either of those things.

    12. “The corner was mine. My father bought it for me.” ;)

      1. Neil (@neilosjames)
        9th April 2017, 17:36

        Best not give him ideas, I just pictured dozens of corners called ‘Stroll’ being announced at various circuits throughout the season :D

      2. Lol. you had me in splits there. Comment of the day.

    13. Stroll’s fault, Perez was alongside him, you can’t just turn into the corner and expect him to disappear.

    14. Racing incident… :p Stroll will soon realise he is racing a bunch of grown men, who do not understand a concept of his corner.

      Perez was lucky to score points from that.

      Stroll meanwhile got another crash. Bad luck this time.

      1. racing a bunch of grown men

        This, a thousand times @jureo

    15. Loving the stewards this year. Let them race!

      Stroll will have a new sense of awareness from now on. It is Formula 1, it won’t ever be one’s corner

    16. I had the feeling that Perez didn’t plan the overtake but he just happened to get alongside Stroll because the latter took some weird and slow racing lines through the previous two turns.

      1. @matthijs
        I only saw the replay once but that was the impression I got too, looked like Stroll took a pretty wide line. I don’t disagree with the stewards, I’d probably place more of the blame on Perez though.

    17. Same bs move he pulled on Kimi at Monaco, and everybody up to Monaco. After Monaco he decided to quit shoving his nose in there with a hail mary move of ‘chicken’ to see if the other car is gonna move out of your way. In nascar it’s called ‘dive bombing’. It’s trouble. Only the destitute and desperate use it cause it’s based on sheer luck.

    18. One of my favourite things to do on this website is bash Lance Stroll.
      Yet even I’m appalled at some of the responses here. Get a grip.

      1. To elaborate, this move was not on. When Kimi did it to Bottas everyone was up in arms. This is putting the car where there’s no space. It’s definitely only a racing incident but anyone who thinks Stroll should have been aware is incredibly naive. Stroll was completely not at fault. Nothing about experience or inexperience. If anything, Perez showed naivety by being this aggressive in a wettish corner without having either the space or the grip. I truly don’t like Lance Stroll or how he reached F1, but I’ll be damned if he’s blamed for this.

        1. @hahostolze Have you even seen the accident from Perez onboard camera? They were side by side in the previous corner, the space WAS there until Stroll cut across. Perez couldn’t just vanish, he was backing off when Stroll hit him by trying to drive over Perez’ front right wheel. It’s a racing incident but it was Stroll that hit Perez. Stroll could have avoided the crash, while Perez was trying to avoid it.

          1. I agree, Perez onboard cam made this very clear. Stroll just didn´t see Perez.

          2. Exactly, the cars behind took that corner 3 abreast. Stroll wasn’t paying attention, and was too slow through those series of corners.

        2. When Kimi did it to Bottas everyone was up in arms.

          @hahostolze I assume you mean the 2015 Russia one? Kimi was coming from quite far back and only got his nose along side Bottas by divebominbing him into the right hander, locking wheels and all.

          The Perez-Stroll situation in China wasn’t anything like that.

    19. Perez was on the inside and alongside Lance. It looked to me like Stroll closed the door on Sergio. A simple glance in the side mirror could prevented a collision.

    20. Stroll on Perez crash: ‘It was my corner’

      Is he now also buying the corners, so he can own them?

    21. No, it was not.

    22. It was Stroll’s corner because his Daddy paid for it.

    23. Considering that Stroll was pretty close to Massa’s pace through the weekend & showed very solid speed in general I think some of the harsher comments are a bit over the top.

      His dad may have money & some of that may have helped him get the F1 drive, However money doesn’t buy talent & Lance clearly has talent. He’s won races & championships on merit, He’s the reigning FIA F3 champion (A title that again he won on merit) & as I say he showed very good pace this weekend on a circuit he’s never driven on before with no Friday running.

      I’ve not really followed his career that closely other than him been in some races i’ve watched so i’m not a fan of his or anything & don’t have any particular opinion regarding how good or not he may be. However I do think that people are been overly harsh on him because i’ve not seen anything to suggest he’s out of his depth or anything like that as some seem to love saying.

      He’s a rookie with limited experience who IMO is doing a decent enough job thus far. Give him time & judge him later in the year rather than writing him off before he’s had an opportunity to really do anything.

      1. Considering that Stroll was pretty close to Massa’s pace through the weekend

        @stefmeister What do you mean? Massa out qualified Stroll by 7 tenths….

        Given that Bottas (not the greatest driver on the grid either) out qualified Massa last year 17-4 I think it’s safe to say Stroll isn’t anywhere near the car’s maximum performance.

        1. I thought qualifying 10th on his 2d race was a very decent achievement for a rookie. Even in a Williams.

        2. @jeffreyj Remember that he got 1 run in Q3 while Massa got 2 & he made a small error on that Q3 lap that cost him time.

          During the rest of the weekend he was 4 tenths faster than Massa in Q1 & only 3 tenths off Massa in Q2. And in FP3 which were his 1st ever laps on this track in an F1 car he got within 4 tenths of Massa.

          That is as I say pretty close to Massa’s pace & given his lack of experience in these cars & on that track I think he did a solid job.

    24. I tend to regard the accident as being a bit of both, fairly characterised by the stewards as a racing accident, but primarily Perez’s fault to the extent that fault can be ascertained.

      Sergio could have avoided the whole situation for not going for what seemed to be a low-percentage move in the first place (or, I suppose, getting a decent start). Lance could have avoided a collision by being a little more aware of his surroundings, though it would have been rather more difficult for him to avoid the issue than Sergio.

      Lance, in general, hasn’t impressed me, but I’m willing to give him a break on this one.

      1. @alianora-la-canta I really can’t see what more Perez could have done to avoid the accident, he wasn’t going for a risky overtake, he was trying to give Stroll the corner after being right along side Stroll on the outside of the corner before the crash. Perez braked before Stroll and was traveling much slower than him at the time of the accident.

        This crash was nothing like the crashes where a driver just tries to poke his nose down the inside of a corner and hits the car in front on the racing line.

        1. @the-last-pope Once Perez committed to the move, he did what he could (not a lot) about the situation, and this is good. The move itself did, however, look like it was a nose-poke, hence my description of it as “low-percentage”. It could have worked, but required more co-operation from other drivers (notably Stroll) than Perez was likely to get in the situation.

    25. Stroll: It is xxx fault…

      As always
      1. it’s never Lance his fault.
      2. currently team-orders: Never pass Lance Stroll (in the future this is the new FIA rule)
      3. return to 1.

      Just a few examples where it clearly shows…
      Lance had right of way. The others should have dissapeared in thin air moments: href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGtwiHmBn8M”>
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e5TlmKafMM

      1. +1

        You’d think that after a crash like this https://youtu.be/YtyY50gMEts Stroll would have learned this already.

      2. Take a look at this one at Zandvoort in F3…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gwuySB_weU

        Stroll (red car) just pushes the other driver into the wall, I assume he didn’t use his mirrors on this occasion either….lol

    26. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      10th April 2017, 15:13

      It reminds me of this coming together between Kimi and Bottas:

      https://www.racefans.net/2015/11/01/bottas-raikkonen-knew-i-was-there/

      1. @fullcoursecaution They might look similar accidents but they are not. That crash was Raikkonen’s fault, and is what others here have mentioned as “divebombing”.
        Kimi came from miles back before the corner, braking far later than Valteri to just get his nose on the inside before Bottas turned in on the racing line.
        That isn’t what Perez did. He braked early not late and was retreating from Stroll not gaining on him going into the corner. If Stroll had given Perez more space, then he would have exited the corner ahead of Perez.

        1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
          10th April 2017, 17:49

          @the-last-pope you’re thinking of the Sochi debacle, I’m talking about the Mexico fracas shortly after https://youtu.be/zD9fJfm3UiI
          I agree the lead car is at fault

          1. @fullcoursecaution Oh yes, I’m sorry, I should have clicked your first link. I agree with you now, that second crash between Kimi and Valtteri is very close to the Stroll-Perez crash.

    27. Daddy should pay more money, so he might get some talent.

    28. Too bad Giovinazzi doesn’t have a rich dad – we could totally waste him on this space too!

    29. Mika Salo, race steward: if anybody is to blame, to me it’s Stroll. He left the gap in the previous corner, Perez took it, and then Stroll turned in where Perez was already.

      Isn’t that strange, since that is exactly how it went? ;)

      Stroll is used to get his way apparently. I suppose he will finally learn otherwise in one of the upcoming pre race driver meetings. The boy is amongst men now.

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