Sergio Perez will start the United States Grand Prix from the pits after the stewards ruled he failed to stop at the weigh bridge when instructed to during second practice.
Perez was told to perform a pit stop when he pitted at the end of second practice. When he came into the pits he was shown the red light and signal indicating he should stop at the weighbridge, but drove past it.His race engineer pointed out his error, and told him to return to the team’s garage but not to pull into the pit bay. However Perez did so, and the crew replaced his tyres. After this he was pushed back to the weighbridge.
The stewards ruled Perez “failed to stop for weighing when required to do so. Instead, he drove on and proceeded to do a pit stop where the car was worked on by lifting the car and all four wheels were changed, in breach of Article 29.1 (a).
“The penalty imposed is a mandatory penalty specified under the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations and the stewards note that they have no discretion to impose an alternative penalty.”
Pierre Gasly received the same penalty at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier this year.
Perez’s radio messages when he missed the weighbridge
| To Perez: | Perez passes the weighbridge Checo weighbridge, weighbridge. |
| Perez: | I didn’t see it, what I do? |
| Perez: | What do I do? |
| To Perez: | Come to the garage, come to the garage but stop outside. |
| To Perez: | Perez pulls into the pit box where his tyres are changed Pass the pit stop, pass pit box. |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2019 F1 season
- Crying in the Melbourne car park at 2019 grand prix was my career low – Ocon
- McLaren Racing reports reduced £71 million loss in 2019
- Kvyat: Hockenheim podium last year was “my biggest achievement” so far
- How the FIA’s new encrypted fuel flow meter targets Ferrari’s suspected ‘aliasing’ trick
- “He smashed my office door”: 23 must-see moments from ‘Drive to Survive’ season two
a (@aaaa)
2nd November 2019, 2:01
This is so sad to hear for Sergio. Seems like a massive lack of communications.
Makes you wonder how it happens. The pit crew should have been informed not to touch the car.Sounds like Serg too was a bit confused by instructions.
blockquote>Come to the garage, come to the garage but stop outside.
Perhaps should have told him NO BOX, NO BOX.
Good news for Danny Ric thou.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
2nd November 2019, 5:13
@aaaa Not really, the only mistake is they don’t tell the pit crew to not change the tires but immediately push him back to the weighbridge. Instructing Perez to stop outside or inside the garage is irrelevant as long as they don’t change anything on the car before pushing it back to weighbridge.
Chaitanya
2nd November 2019, 2:34
So rules are different for “Organisation” and other teams.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
2nd November 2019, 5:11
No, this rule has existed for years without any change. The big mistake is Racing Point switched his tires before pushing him back to the weighbridge. If they just push him back immediately, Perez would only got a reprimand and penalty point (iirc).
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
2nd November 2019, 6:27
That’s what I thought. Ferrari has made the same mistake before however why did racing point change the tyres?
Blunder or caught red handed?
Chaitanya
2nd November 2019, 10:17
Blunder I guess, remember in Baku Gasly also missed the call and he was pushed back to weighbridge due to which he managed to evade the penalty. Why didnt the team do the same, push Perez back to weighbridge?
anon
2nd November 2019, 11:01
Chaitanya, you must have been watching an entirely different race to everybody else then, because when Gasly drove past the weigh bridge in Baku earlier this year, he was also forced to start from the pit lane because, just like Perez, the team changed the tyres when Gasly returned to his pit box.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.gasly-hit-with-pit-lane-start-for-missing-weighbridge-summons.xWUkkm2qLR8VycQcftsNW.html
Chaitanya
2nd November 2019, 11:54
Sorry I forgot, I thought RBR had pushed his car back to weighbridge. So at which race the car was pushed back to weighbridge, I think it happened this year and one of the driver did dodge bullet for this exact penalty?
Chaitanya
2nd November 2019, 11:56
Found it, it was during qualifying at Monaco GP for Leclerc’s weighbridge call.
Yaru (@yaru)
2nd November 2019, 4:01
This is a massive screw up.
ColdFly (@)
2nd November 2019, 7:12
Who cares if a car is underweight in FP?
Jere (@jerejj)
2nd November 2019, 7:23
@coldfly Whether the session in question is a competitive one (race, qualifying), or just a practice session is irrelevant if/when it comes to breaches in the rules, especially the technical regulations.
anon
2nd November 2019, 7:46
@coldfly, as soon as the race weekend starts, the cars always have to be in a legal technical specification.
Furthermore, the times from the free practise sessions do actually have a value – for example, there are situations where cars can be ordered on the grid in terms of their free practise times, and those free practise times are also used as evidence for a driver being able to meet the 107% rule and therefore being allowed to start if, for some reason, they cannot set a lap time in qualifying.
a (@aaaa)
2nd November 2019, 8:21
@coldfly
However I prefer ANON previous explanation better.
which may lend some credence to what @peartree was alluding to.
(as Seb would say “copy/paste” Hopefully I get it right this time)
ColdFly (@)
2nd November 2019, 8:31
You’re right, there are situations where we should ‘care’.
Though I’d still rather see deletion of their practice times rather than automatically starting from the pitlane.
Jere (@jerejj)
2nd November 2019, 7:26
”I didn’t see it” – LOL, the two light-panels opposite to the FIA-garage and weighing scales display both red light and the driver-number, so should be quite easily noticeable when approaching them at a low-speed. A silly error.
ColdFly (@)
2nd November 2019, 8:35
Oftentimes people pay less attention at low (safe) speeds than when driving fast.
Maybe FIA, in its quest for safety, should abolish pit speed limits ;)
Bleu (@bleu)
2nd November 2019, 10:14
Missing weighbridge deserves a penalty but starting from the pit lane is too harsh when it happens in FP.
Instead I would like to see driver losing a set of tyres. Usually they have seven sets for qualifying and race, but in this case only six, with still the need to have one set of each three compounds.
a (@aaaa)
2nd November 2019, 10:21
HaHa,Don’t let Masi hear you.
However maybe they do need to add something more to the signalling,
Perhaps direct radio contact with the driver.(is that allowed….no)
As it seems heaps of drivers have been caught out by it, even Mahaveer Raghunathan has missed those lights:) I remember Weber saying once that driving the car is a bit like laying back in your bathtub & putting a letter box over your head..,Must be like adding a set of Magoo glasses now that the halo has come in.
I doubt the team was up to anything sinister.Has kinda stuffed Checo’s weekend tho.
Just dumb luck for some:)
a (@aaaa)
2nd November 2019, 10:44
@bleu
Sorry, No haha to you Bleu,
This sounds like the perfect solution,for FP infringement….
*Not only need an edit button,but a preview would be good too*
Joe Pineapples
2nd November 2019, 11:20
Imagine if it had happened a week ago.