Sergio Perez, Racing Point, Red Bull Ring, 2020

Perez rues decision not to pit under Safety Car

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Sergio Perez suspects Racing Point missed out on a better result by not pitting him during the second Safety Car period.

What they say

I think, looking back, we probably should have pitted under the Safety Car. But of course, now it’s easy to know that.

At the end I was struggling with my tyres to hold the people behind on fresher rubber. So that was a bit difficult for me right at the end of the race. But all in all, the positive is that we have a competitive package and then look forward for the next one, which is in a couple of days’ time.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Those who were hoping to see a rejuvenated Sebastian Vettel in Austria were disappointed:

This basically sums up Vettel of recent years. Extremely poor performance all weekend. No surprise Ferrari decided to not renew his contract. He seems spent.

I’m sure that there is a quick driver in there somewhere, but racing for Ferrari has possibly taken it’s toll. He may needs a new project, Racing Point is a good a shout, but it will be a risk for the team.

I think he’s done. No shame in retiring and doing something else. He’s been off it for a couple years now, perhaps it’s time to quit while you’re, sort of, ahead.
@Jaymenon10

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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...

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17 comments on “Perez rues decision not to pit under Safety Car”

  1. ColdFly (@)
    6th July 2020, 0:09

    Maybe Steiner should read this story on Racefans.net: Brake failures which put both cars out not Haas’s biggest problem – Grosjean.
    He can also find it on the dictation apparatus of Grosjean’s press person ;)

    1. “You can see a little bit of a line through all the Ferrari-powered cars,” said Steiner.

      “We haven’t done any big analysis, and we haven’t spoken with them about it, so I think, with that question, you speak with the Ferrari guys. They maybe know more about it than me!

      “It’s obvious I cannot say it all is fantastic because look where Ferrari is, look where Alfa [Romeo] is, and look where we are. We have to sit down and see what the cause is.”

      (from GPFans)
      Steiner has also blamed Ferrari for PU.

  2. ColdFly (@)
    6th July 2020, 0:15

    Is that wasp about to attack Perez?

    1. @coldfly That’s Benito the Bee, Checo’s pet. It goes everywhere with him. It doesn’t mind flying and never suffers from jet lag.

    2. I think it might be the same wasp that was attacking Norris whilst he was being interviewed by Sky.

      He’s known locally as something of a troublemaker. The wasp, not Norris!

  3. Only Facts!
    6th July 2020, 0:25

    At least RP is having big team problems now. A wrong strategy doesn’t cost them points anymore, it costs a podium finish.
    Adding fuel to the fire, last year’s W10 in pink can beat this year’s Ferrari, which is the source of all complaints by McLaren. Who, by the way, can beat this year’s Ferrari as well. Impressive leap ahead.

    1. RP definitely missed a trick with not pitting under the safety car, which is unusual for them because usually they are strategically good at capitalizing on these situations when the opportunities come up. Maybe on this occasion, because they have a more competitive car than usual, they found themselves favouring the more conservative option. Which in this case, proved to be the wrong one.

      1. yeah, i got the same impression, they need to adjust their strategy mentality from “underdog” to: we can and must play with the big boys now

    2. Anyone know when Perez actually sped in the pitlane? If it was under the safety car drive through the pit lane (during Kimi clean up), then that’s an embarrassing mistake. If it was under the pitstop (when he had the little race with Lando), then how did it take 40 laps to be announced. I feel like they might have changed their strategy if they knew about this penalty sooner.

      1. The official document says it happened at 16:24, that’s 1:14 into the race so it must have been while following the safety car. I guess he forgot he still had to respect the pit lane speed limit.

  4. “We must focus on reliability”

    Maybe they should put that on Cyril’s t shirt – he’s been saying it over and over since 2014. At least Renault has been consistent.

  5. I don’t remember how many laps he spent in his biggest stint but, if there is a driver that such strategy can be trusted, this one is Perez. I wouldn’t dwell much about it, though. They played the big game today and sometimes it doesn’t pay off.

  6. Thanks for CoTD @keithcollantine :)

  7. I agree with the COTD, although concerning team-options for next year: RP/Aston Martin already has both current-drivers under contract, so Renault or teams further down the field would be options for him if he’s interested in (properly) joining the midfield. Mercedes, of course, doesn’t have either driver under contract beyond the end of this year at present, but I have doubts about his chances of going there.

  8. befor the sc he was starting to pressurize Albon but during the sc Mercedes didn’t pit so he couldn’t pit either, it makes it an easier pill to swallow, RP could have scored big big points, at least it was not their fault.

  9. These guys have access to some of the best engineering teams & facilities on the planet – why can’t they produce a clear mask?

  10. Sebastian Vettel is 33 years old, he is not ‘spent’.

Comments are closed.