Lando Norris was baffled by his collision with Sergio Perez during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Perez was handed a five-second time penalty for the collision between the pair, which occured as the Red Bull driver tried to pass his rival on the inside of turn six. While Perez insisted his Norris was partially to blame for the collision, the stewards disagreed, handing the Red Bull driver a five-second time penalty.Norris insisted he wasn’t trying to put up a fight against Perez at the time. “He was ahead,” said Norris. “I’m trying to let him past.
“I was on the right, I tried to let him past, I was four car lengths away from the apex and somehow he still crashed into me. So, impressive.
“I don’t know, I literally tried to let him past and somehow he crashed into me and got a penalty.”
Norris ran third early on in the race but lost time during his first pit stop as both wheel changes on the left-hand side of his car took longer than usual to complete. Despite Perez’s post-race penalty, Norris was classified behind him, and he felt he might have done better had his pit stop not been so slow.
“It’s tough,” he said. “It wasn’t like the Ferrari and the Mercedes cleared off.
“If I’d stayed ahead of the Mercedes in the pit stop could I have just stayed ahead of him because of dirty air and things? Potentially.”
Norris took the chequered flag behind George Russell, who he felt had better luck with traffic during the race. “When he caught cars, it always just benefited him,” said Norris.
“Sometimes I caught them at the end of the straights and then had to spend the whole lap behind them. So just a little bit unlucky at times. But George did a good job, Mercedes did a good job, so I’m not taking anything away from them.
“I think we just didn’t have the pace we wanted and to match their pace I had to push too hard and then I degraded like I did on the medium, like I did on both sets of hard tyres. So pace was probably the main thing today that we lacked.”
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Jere (@jerejj)
26th November 2023, 18:15
Racing incident
melanos
26th November 2023, 18:42
yep, Perez understeered a good bit but gained no advantage and no car was hurt. Harsh penalty, really and we have seen plenty of moves like this unpunished. However it made a big difference for the WCC, indirectly.
Anyway, nobody remembers #2 in the WCC, and for teams like Merc and Fezza it is tough to say if the prize money is worthier than the extra wind tunnel time, or the other way around.
Coventry Climax
26th November 2023, 19:43
The name of that racing incident is: ‘Perez’. Actually, ‘Incident’ is Perez’ second name. And ‘Excuse’ his third.
Nick T.
28th November 2023, 0:53
Amazing awful penalty. Perez has been a liability all season and I feel like instead of judging this contact on merit, they acted like they were judging Maldonado who, due to so much needless contact, began getting penalties even when they were undeserved or clearly another driver’s fault.
AlanD
26th November 2023, 19:24
The comentators were going on about Perez being marginally in front and entitled to take whatever line he wanted,… but if you know a car is there, are you entitled to drive into it? Very clumsy by both of them.
Robert (@rob8k)
26th November 2023, 22:21
It annoys me when they talk about giving a cars width on the inside. Then when it comes to the exit of the corner, the car on the outside is just basically pushed off. If they want to go with this ruleset then it should be a cars width on the inside and outside.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
27th November 2023, 6:39
You can blame the FIA for that one. Squeezing a car off the track at corner exit has been tolerated for years, even though it’s explicitly forbidden in the sporting code.
“All the time you have to leave the space,” as someone once said.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
26th November 2023, 20:29
I’m a bit baffled by racing where drivers just let other drivers through but defend against other drivers.
Why would Russell not be racing Verstappen last weekend and why would Norris not be racing Perez this weekend?
I’m not saying they should be brake testing them like Alonso but for crying out loud “get your shoulders out and make the car as wide as possible…
RandomMallard
26th November 2023, 20:49
@freelittlebirds It’s because of the sorry state F1 is in with the Pirelli tyres that demand nothing but careful management for pretty much the entire stint. We saw from Max in the opening stint in Vegas how quick and easy it can be to damage the tyres, and how much it can come back to bite you at the end of the stint. McLaren’s main goal for this weekend was almost certainly to secure P4 in the WCC, and if Norris had fought Perez too hard, he could have put that in jeopardy. F1 desperately needs tyres that don’t artificially degrade after 20 metres and instead can survive being pushed to the limit over a full race stint.
Ken
26th November 2023, 21:25
This stupid tyre management is ruining most of the races,really boring thing to watch drivers just follow each other with a 2 second cap to preserve tyres.
S
27th November 2023, 8:10
Even if they weren’t managing tyres (and every circuit racing series does this all the time) then they’d just be backing off to manage fuel instead, as they don’t carry enough to do a full race at full push. Fuel is mass, and mass is time/performance.
There are many potential solutions – such as making additional pitstops more attractive by decreasing time loss, allowing refuelling again or even something as simple as mandating that teams run all 3 compounds or include an additional mandatory pitstop.
But then people complain that the solution isn’t what they want with their idealistic image of F1,so negotiation and problem-solving stalls and ultimately nothing ever improves. Rinse and repeat.
Anyway – the problem isn’t really the tyres, it is the cars. It always comes back to the cars, their technical/behavioural characteristics and how the teams approach the racing with their enormous banks of data on every aspect of it. Management is not just unavoidable, it is desirable. The teams all want it, and they are the ones who get to decide.
evan
26th November 2023, 21:14
because fighting slows you down and there’s no point compromising your race if you know the other car has significant pace advantage.
Grace
27th November 2023, 9:23
Was Alonso brake testing or was he simply trying to get Hamilton to overtake so he (Alonso) would cross the DRS line behind Hamilton and get the DRS himself? Isn’t it about time for Hamilton to start being aware of some of the basics of racing within the pack instead of at the front?
J3d89
28th November 2023, 2:49
Is the exact thing of Jeddah 21, he refused to pass him and stuck his nose and then whined that it was brake testing..
adutchracefan
26th November 2023, 20:48
its quite simple, i only started realising myself when i started playing racing games – when you defend against someone you lose time versus everybody else
Robert Henning
26th November 2023, 23:21
Honestly don’t know why he got a penalty. He was alongside and was overtaking. Norris had space to stay on the track. But Norris instead decides to turn in on Perez, and cut the chicane like Hamilton did in 2021 while Perez got a useless penalty.
Norris gave Perez space and then decided to take it back like Russell last race.
It ended up giving Merc a rather lucky P2 in the constructors.
Like last week, the guy who turned in (Norris) is at fault and should have been punished. The overtaking car was well alongside and didn’t do any dangerous move.
David (@nvherman)
27th November 2023, 7:54
How much more space did Norris need to leave for Pérez? Pérez was nowhere near the apex. Also didn’t even turn the steering wheel that far, if you watch the replays.
Norris had to turn in when he did, otherwise he would not have made the corner himself.
That’s why Pérez took the penalty, he was not properly under control when contact was made
Anonym
28th November 2023, 1:33
Perez was given so much space inside. Look at the replay. Perez didn’t even turn the wheels fully. Perez wants to push Norris outside while Norris didn’t even think to defend from him. That’s why they crashed.
Robert Henning
28th November 2023, 9:41
Please read all my responses. He in fact does turn thr wheel fully after what appears to be a moment of understeer as I acknowledged elsewhere
Norris is taking the good old racing line by leaving plenty of space for Perez which leaves the latter taking a pseudo racing line.
Norris has a car alongside and on the inside, so he obviously can’t expect it to disappear.
By the way Perez _can_ push off Norris legally should he actually have been ahead at the Apex. Since this incident doesn’t involve the apex, I don’t think you can use that precedent.
People arguing Perez driving into Norris are funny. He clearly has steering lock after a moment of what appears to be understeer. As I argues before, I’d agree if it was a racing incident if people would barely acknowledge Perez’ steering movement and Lando turning in.
No one seems to acknowledge why the guy on the inside has to hit the Apex when far more space is afforded to begin with. It seems a bit of a misguided take?
Robert Henning
27th November 2023, 9:33
Not any more than he left. In fact all he had to do was leave one car’s width which he did and more — and that was that. Perez did not have to be near the apex because there was more than one car width’s space. He was comfortably alongside and in fact on a bit of a racing line. I saw the replays, he does go full lock after a bit of what looks like understeer. So yes, Norris gave him sufficient space and you can argue that Perez had to go full lock.
This I disagree. Norris had plenty more road left, and could comfortably make the corner after taking a more compromised line. In fact, since Perez was alongside, Norris simply could not cut him off as he did. This where we disagree.
But why does this matter if the entire incident was caused by Norris ignoring a car on the inside? The goal of the guy overtaking on the inside is to get alongside, and keep it on the black stuff without overshooting and if possible be ahead at the apex — at which point he can just push the guy on the outside off the track.
This incident did not involve the apex, but only two cars both of which had plenty of room to race wheel to wheel and the overtaking car had been sufficiently alongside.
Now one can argue it to be a racing incident in the sense that Perez had that moment with his steering, and that Lando turned in too early. But I don’t think it’s right to ignore Lando’s role in this incident at all.
That’s the only mitigating factor I can see even though I don’t see why that helps Lando’s case here.
David (@nvherman)
27th November 2023, 10:31
I don’t see why you’re blaming this on Norris when it was Perez’ fault.
I realise that you seem to have a problem with Norris, but you need to get past that
Robert Henning
27th November 2023, 13:10
Thank you. You are not addressing any of my points. No action of Perez caused the collision. Norris turned in.
Unless you can of course prove me wrong. I obviously can’t attack images here.
evan
27th November 2023, 15:17
How about the part where Perez misses the apex and drives into Norris?
That is solely his action, Norris has to make the corner too and all he needs to do is to leave enough space for Perez to go into, which he clearly did.
Being on the inside line does not give you the right to bully another car off the track.
Perez was quite a way back either way, only got level with Norris because of the fact that he braked way too late for the corner and space he had available.
Robert Henning
27th November 2023, 22:53
Perez doesn’t need to hit the Apex. It seems like people think it’s incorrect to overtake without doing that lol.
And no, Perez doesn’t drive into Norris. Please rewatch the instance.
Conclusion here is no one can challenge my points credibly or show I’m holding an opinion founded on misguided knowledge.
Good to know I can stick with this till someone shows me why my opinion is misguided.
Anonym
28th November 2023, 1:36
Perez need to be close to the apex. Because if he doesn’t it means he’s off the racing line and pushing the outside car off the road.
Robert (@rob8k)
27th November 2023, 11:11
I should state to begin with that I believe it’s a racing incident and been a massive advocate for stewards to let them race unless it’s dangerous or cheating. Where I have to disagree with you is that Norris shouldn’t have to give more room becasue the car on the inside was not in full control of the car. I see it as the responsiblity of the car on the inside to make sure they slow down and make the corner. Austria 2016 comes to mind.
Robert Henning
27th November 2023, 13:16
Norris as the car defending has to only give one car’s width on the inside. I’m saying he did better and in fact left more space than what the rules required him to. I’m sorry but I can’t really understand your sentence.
Yes, and that did happen. Perez was well alongside Norris and it was not his lack of control that caused the collision. It was rather Norris turning in that caused the collision. Perez does not have to take the line that hugs the apex even though that would have served him well. Why? Because there was more space than that going into that corner.
I can see it being a racing incident with more blame on Norris simply because he closed the door on Perez. I can see some attributing Perez’s lack of control as a reason but that didn’t really make his car go towards Norris. It was, as I mentioned in the previous comment, more of a racing line he took thanks to Norris leaving the door open.
Robert (@rob8k)
27th November 2023, 13:36
Unfortunately Perez does have to take the line that hugs the apex because that is the way the stewards determine and rule it. I don’t like it and you may not like it but that is the way it is. Take Austria 2016 as an example or even braver, take Silverstone 2021.
Robert Henning
27th November 2023, 14:10
The difference though is the following:
At Austria Rosberg drove into Hamilton without attempting to make the corner (he doesnt even bother turning) and once again he didn’t need to take the apex. I see this as similar as Max’s move at Interlagos that went without a penalty (lol) except Hamilton couldn’t bail out like Brazil at Austria.
At Silverstone, it is not comparable because Hamilton wasn’t even alongside going into the corner. The only place where it looks like they’re alongside is when Verstappen begins to turn while Hamilton is still going straight.
This incident is different from both, and the reason why Apex was a contentious point for Silverstone was simply because Verstappens line allowed Hamilton to go wheel to wheel only if Hamilton hit the Apex. It was a defensive move that forced Hamilton to either commit and take Verstappen and himself out or give up the corner.
Stewards also changed rulings since 2022.
I find this incident more similar to Verstappen Russell, and the only point of contention being Perezs steering lock/understeer moment.
Apex isn’t necessary.
David (@nvherman)
27th November 2023, 10:31
I don’t see why you’re blaming this on Norris when it was Perez’ fault.
I realise that you seem to have a problem with Norris, but you need to get past that
Mahesh (@m47e57)
28th November 2023, 9:07
What a weird crash..