Sergio Perez will start today’s Qatar Grand Prix from the pit lane after his Red Bull team was found to have worked on his car while parc ferme restrictions were in place.
He originally qualified 13th for today’s race at the Losail International Circuit. However Perez was involved in a three-car collision with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg in yesterday’s sprint race which meant repairs were needed to his car.Perez described the damage to his car as “massive” as he was hit by Ocon’s out-of-control Alpine and came to a rest in the gravel trap at turn two.
Red Bull began work building up a replacement chassis, number two, for Perez. The FIA’s Formula 1 technical delegate Jo Bauer reported the amount of work done on the car exceeded that permitted by the rules.
“As chassis two was assembled without supervision to more than an assembly comprising a survival cell as defined in SR Article 27.2, this has to be considered as a third car available to the competitor,” Bauer noted. “A self-declared scrutineering sheet for car 11, chassis two, was submitted at 14:05 today, 55 minutes before the covers-off time.”
The standard penalty for this infringement at previous races has been a pit lane start. Perez is therefore set to start a grand prix from the back of the grid for the third time this year.
This article will be updated
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Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
8th October 2023, 15:43
I guess given he was only starting P13, it makes little difference. Although, it is breaking the rules, so I wonder if the gamble is that, its better to have the car ready to start from the back rather than not having the time to complete the repairs at all.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th October 2023, 15:48
The damage is mainly at the rear, so the only logical explanation must be fire reaching monocoque from the inside, but this third-cat relating to assembly reference had never come alight before Sargeant’s case, so second consecutive event is surprising.
As with Sargeant, an additional 1-sec penalty during a pit stop is inevitable.
Rom
8th October 2023, 15:58
When it rains, it pours even in the desert.
The Simpsons “he’s already dead” gif never felt more appropiate.
joe jopling (@jop452)
8th October 2023, 16:02
Red Bull breaking or exploiting rules?? No change there
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
8th October 2023, 16:46
Penalty for fitting a 5th PU without the permission of the FIA – starting from the pitlane. A non penalty and a non lasting penalty for using extra engine parts regardless of who was to blame for the required new engine.
DaveW (@dmw)
8th October 2023, 16:51
Hamilton finishes 2nd in WDC. Y’all heard it here first. This is going to be his revenge for Perez’ “animal” defending in the 2021 finale lol.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
8th October 2023, 16:56
On the one hand ORBR would perhaps like to see Perez gone but on the other they need him to hang on to 2nd place for their first 1-2 finish in the WDC.
Andy (@andyfromsandy)
8th October 2023, 16:57
I wonder if should George and Lewis be coming home 2 and 3 they ask George to move over so Lewis gets those extra points?
Edvaldo
8th October 2023, 17:02
It’s definitely not worth the stress yet. There’s a still a long road to the end of the season and a couple of decent races on the podium from Perez will guarantee his 2nd place.
If things were tighter and with less races to the finish, maybe they would.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th October 2023, 5:23
Yes, that’s what I was thinking. It was a shame about hamilton crashing at start, as I think he could’ve come 4th and recovered around 12 points on perez, but even then I think a couple of second places behind verstappen would make this realistically impossible since he’s already around 30 points ahead, and given the limitations other cars than red bull have this year.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th October 2023, 5:24
To make it clear, I mean if perez gets a couple of second places there’d be no more realistic chance to overtake him.
Craig
8th October 2023, 17:48
I don’t know what exactly he’d be avenging (people make more out of Perez’s defending in that race then they really should as it had no impact on the end), but I can see it happening at this rate. When push comes to shove RB won’t do anything to help Perez either.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th October 2023, 5:26
Actually perez’s role in abu dhabi was determinant: he made hamilton lose a few seconds, which turned out to be enough time lost to make it so that he couldn’t cover verstappen when the VSC came, he’d have lost track position.
Without perez, we wouldn’t have witnesses the infamous abu dhabi ending because hamilton would’ve pitted during VSC and come back ahead, and since he had the better car and honestly drove better too that race I’m confident with that little delta there would’ve been when verstappen pitted with SC in the end, hamilton would’ve easily defended.