Sergio Perez, Racing Point, Hungaroring, 2019

Perez criticises “disrespectful” Ricciardo after Q1 incident

2019 Hungarian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

An unhappy Sergio Perez accused Daniel Ricciardo of “disrespectful” driving after the pair encountered each other on track during Q1.

Both drivers dropped out in the first round of qualifying after losing time when Ricciardo tried to overtake Perez at the final corner before their flying laps.

“I think we could have got through to Q2 to be honest,” said Perez, who qualified 17th. “It would have needed a good lap, but we didn’t get it.

“My final run was badly compromised when all the cars were trying to find space in the final corner. That’s where Ricciardo tried to do something crazy, overtaking me in the last corner. He screwed up his lap and my lap too because I ended up too close to [Lando] Norris and Daniel was close behind me.”

Perez said the drivers had discussed how to give each other space on-track during yesterday’s briefing.

“We all know traffic is tricky in Q1,” he said. “We spoke about it in the drivers’ briefing and the importance of being respectful of each other.

“For me, it was quite disrespectful. He’s an experienced driver and I didn’t expect that from him. We know this track isn’t the best for us anyway, but now we’re really in a tough place for tomorrow. It’s been a bad day for us, so let’s hope it gets better in the race.”

On his radio at the end of Q1 Perez also complained he was not in a good position on the track when his lap time began. “What the fuck is wrong with Ricciardo man?” said Perez. “He fucked his lap, he fucked our lap. Anyway, track position was very poor.”

Perez was told: “We had time, we had plenty of time left in the session to wait for the gap and get it. I don’t know why Ricciardo was going around you.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2019 F1 season

Browse all 2019 F1 season articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

9 comments on “Perez criticises “disrespectful” Ricciardo after Q1 incident”

  1. GtisBetter (@)
    3rd August 2019, 17:32

    It did seem there was plenty of time and ricciardo was furious after Q1 at somebody or something. Wonder if there is Renault team radio

  2. Ricciardo certainly has been acting like that since he joined Renault.

  3. I was going to ask if there was time since I missed Q1…
    Perez is right

  4. Once again the qualifying format is shown up to be a load of rubbish, with the short sessions forcing all the drivers to take to the track at the same time you are obviously going to have drivers getting in the way of each other or running into one another, and it is made even worse by the horrid tyres they are forced to use where they have to drive very slowly on a live race track on the laps before and after their hot laps to prevent wreckage of their rubber. It is highly dangerous, ridiculous to watch and overall it is a complete shambles, but for as long as the increasing number of idiots who watch F1 claim that it is the best qualifying format that has ever been (it isn’t by a long stretch) then I suppose nothing will change until the people running F1 are forced to make changes when the inevitable happens and somebody gets severely hurt or even killed. Mark my words, it will happen if they do not act soon.

  5. Wasn’t Ricciardo ahead of him initially though? Not sure there was ‘disrespect’ just that when teams send their drivers out late (and behind a Merc. that always goes very slowly in those out/warm-up laps), there tends to be last corner quibbles. So both teams should just have given their drivers more time to create some slack.

    1. @bosyber Ricciardo was two cars behind Perez before the final corner. Perez is absolutely correct.

      At this moment, Ricciardo moving to Renault is looking Alonso-to-Ferrari-and-then-to-McLaren-esque.

      He’s already 30, he’s probably not being considered by the top teams any more. His best chance is now gone. Too many fast, younger drivers who need race seats.

      1. Yeah @nvherman, I got the order wrong – rewatched it. But that still doesn’t make Perez correct – especially the ‘disrespect’ I really doubt it is that (but maybe frustration on his side that he himself is not seen as an up and coming top driver?)

        Renault surely need to work on their operations and chassis (well, and still PU), but if anyone gets replaced it will be Hulk, and then they will have to be there when 2021 starts. But Perez is also (see above), now an appreciated journeyman. Sorry, it sounds like sour grapes to me.

        1. @bosyber If Renault’s PU is so bad, how come McLaren can use it to such good effect?

          I’m not going to lie, I’ve never bought into the hype around Ricciardo: as far as I’m concerned, he’s very good at late braking, but that’s about it. He’s only scored 5 more points than Hülkenberg so far this season, and he’s not exactly stellar opposition.

          This is not to argue that Perez is a great driver, he isn’t, but he is correct in this case

          1. @nvherman, sorry, but I’m doubting discussing with you from now on.
            How does

            Renault surely need to work on their operations and chassis (well, and still PU)

            turn into

            If Renault’s PU is so bad

            . Your previous post also didn’t really seem to gel with what I said.

            I didn’t say much against Perez, nor much for Ricciardo or Hulkenberg. I just said (initially) that I don’t feel comments about disrespect are useful, when everyone is in a squabble to get that last lap in. And arguably, that’s thank to the teams cutting it too close with their final run and resulting lack of attention to on-track gaps for the drivers to be able to go cleanly.

Comments are closed.