Sergio Perez explained why he left his pit box despite his team showing him a red light during last weekend’s race.
The stewards took the unusual step of giving the Red Bull driver a penalty point on his licence for the “unsafe release” after blaming him for the resulting near-miss with Fernando Alonso.Perez had to queue behind his team mate Max Verstappen as the pair pitted during a Safety Car period in Saturday’s race. He admitted he rejoined the queue too hastily after his pit stop was complete.
“We were compromised with such an early Safety Car and that meant that basically everyone just pitted,” he said. “When I was going out, it was actually my mistake, because I was told by the team to hold back. But I looked on the right and there was nobody there when I looked.”
Speaking immediately after the race Perez said “we just need a wider pit lane” in response to the incident, but later accepted responsibility for the incident.
“In hindsight, I think the penalty was correct and that pretty much compromised our race.”
Perez explained he was observing the progress of his pit crew and the oncoming traffic when he decided to risk an early exit.
“I saw that I didn’t have the proper release. But I didn’t see anyone [coming]. Sometimes the team can be a little bit slower than you in the car.
“But this time was the other way around, so, my bad in that one, but still happily it didn’t change our race.”
Perez’s penalty means he will have at least eight penalty points on his superlicence for the next 15 rounds, until the Singapore Grand Prix in September. Any driver who reaches 12 points receives an automatic race ban.
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Red Andy (@red-andy)
12th March 2024, 8:24
Quite an alarming admission from Perez, that he is prepared to run a red light on the basis that “sometimes the team can be a little bit slower than you.” Surely the whole point of the light system is that the team can see things that you can’t necessarily see from the cockpit.
Tristan
12th March 2024, 9:24
Yeah, wasn’t the whole traffic light system mandated specifically to make releases safer. Come to think of it pit-stop times haven’t really risen since then so makes sense that drivers are just ignoring it.
Drop Saudi
12th March 2024, 10:39
Is it mandatory?
ludewig
12th March 2024, 11:22
It is mandatory to have it, but I’m not sure whether it is explicitly spelled out that the drivers have to obey it.
notagrumpyfan
12th March 2024, 9:49
In retrospect 1 penalty point seems to be quite lenient.
David BR (@david-br)
12th March 2024, 14:48
@red-andy Exactly.
Kringle
12th March 2024, 17:13
Maybe he should focus on the half a second a lap deficit instead of half a second in a solitary pit stop he could have killed someone.
Asd
12th March 2024, 20:30
“Maybe he should focus on the half a second a lap deficit instead of half a second in a solitary pit stop”
No, he shouldn’t. He can’t lessen the deficit to Verstappen. What he can do is speed up a pit stop.
Xavi
15th March 2024, 23:19
Have you seen the Race lap times? half a second lap deficit? Why lie? if you want excuses to spew your hatred comments toward PER just stay on topic and criticize his poor judgment on pits. By the way Lewis did exactly the same to Alonso last season and I didn’t read you vomiting so much venom about it.
BasCB (@bascb)
12th March 2024, 17:15
Indeed. Good that they at least gave him one of those points on his licence for doing something that should be obvious is a dangerous move, why would the teams HAVE such a system, if not exactly to prevent situations like this.
Sham (@sham)
12th March 2024, 8:28
If he hadn’t have jumped the light, he may have lost places to the cats exiting ahead of him… So it’s very clear why he did what he did and the penalty was meaningless because of what he gained. It was cynical and dangerous and the penalty should have been far greater. A drive through, at least, since it was entirely his doing and not the teams.
The Dolphins
12th March 2024, 14:47
Is that even an argument for someone driving a car so superior to the rest of the field? He’s only trying to race his teammate at this point and we can all agree that’s a futile endeavour.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
13th March 2024, 1:31
@sham
Great to see Carl Perkins is not forgotten.
1 for the money
2 for the show
3 to get ready
now go cat go
But seriously it was stupid and disturbing lack of awareness about consequences of his actions.
Should have been harsher penalty to me, but perhaps the stewards couldn’t find the dice or chocolate wheel to determine the appropriate penalty.
MadMax (@madmax)
12th March 2024, 8:28
A drive through would have been an appropriate penalty, at least.
He didnt see anyone, so he decided to ignore the red light?!? Wow. If he would have misjudged in the heat of the moment, shortly believing he was released, but deliberately chosing to go while knowing he is not?
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
12th March 2024, 9:29
Or a stop-go, with another red light.
SteveP
12th March 2024, 8:31
I wonder if the traffic police in Milton Keynes now know to keep a special watch for Perez at red lights?
Because, you know, jumping the lights is fine because the little old lady in a Civic is easily avoided.
Drop Saudi
12th March 2024, 10:44
They have roundabouts.
DaveW (@dmw)
12th March 2024, 15:08
How do teenagers in the UK race their stances Civics if there are no stoplights?
SteveP
12th March 2024, 16:15
That they do, and even the roundabouts have traffic lights in some instances.
So, there are lights without roundabouts, roundabouts without lights, roundabouts with lights…
Does anyone know of an instance of a junction with neither? (Just so we have all four combinations)
falken (@falken)
12th March 2024, 20:50
You mean a crossroads…
SteveP
12th March 2024, 21:42
Or a “T” or “Y” for three-way, or a five-way
AlanD
12th March 2024, 18:53
So….. many…… roundabouts……..
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
12th March 2024, 9:35
“We just need a wider pit lane” is like Lance Stroll saying turn 22’s not wide enough.
elchinero (@elchinero)
13th March 2024, 13:26
GOOD! Zing-o!
Retired (@jeff1s)
12th March 2024, 9:42
Should’ve better shut up than saying aggravated manners. The day Perez will say « I messed up, my fault, my responsibility » he’ll grow as a driver and as a man.
pastaman
12th March 2024, 12:13
grat
12th March 2024, 13:45
… followed immediately by “Sometimes the team is slow to release” and “the pit lane needs to be wider”.
A deliberate breach of safety rules IN THE PIT LANE. Why is he not on the bench for Australia?
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
13th March 2024, 2:01
@grat
Taking it either way none of our sporting teams could afford him and even if they could they wouldn’t leave him on the bench ( unless we wanted to use him as an impact player.
The more salient point is what I think you are getting at is that I think serious safety breaches should have serious and immediate consequences is “You can have the next race off to consider your actions” 1point or 5 sec etc penalties I would argue encourage reckless acts rather than deter them.
And to show I am not completely biased I would have given Daniel the next race off to reflect on the wisdom of reversing “blind,” into another competitor, possibly.a marshal and oncoming high speed traffic.
Getting away lightly with that was ridiculous imho
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
12th March 2024, 9:59
Isn’t that the purpose of the red light? to alert the driver someone is coming (and indeed was)?
Baffling…
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
12th March 2024, 13:44
The worst part is that the penalty made him probably lose less that if he had waited, not really a deterrent for the future.
Basically the message sent is that if you’re front runner and have first pit box, don’t wait for the queue of cars to pass by your box and lose positions.
oweng (@oweng)
12th March 2024, 10:20
It raises the question again of time penalties and their effectiveness. In many cases it’s worth risking the penalty to keep the position as you’ll be able to build a big enough gap.
I’d prefer to see positions given back where possible, such as gaining advantage by leaving the track or in this case if it would be possible to calculate how many positions he avoided losing. And rather than it just be a suggestion to the team, be an actual penalty. If it’s not clear, then a drive through penalty should be awarded.
Teams/drivers will calculate whether the time penalty is worth the offence. That option should be taken out of the equation.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th March 2024, 10:58
I couldn’t agree more with you. Calculations have zero place concerning penalties.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
13th March 2024, 2:46
@Jere
I’m with you too. In fact I think it was you who suggested a blue flag to give back position (and more dire consequences if delayed response ). That was the most simple & sensible solution in my eyes.
If it wasn’t you or others suggested it I apologise.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
12th March 2024, 10:54
He should receive an additional penalty following that admission.
George (@fedar)
12th March 2024, 11:58
Not sure if that is possible, but I actually agree. This is an extraordinary admission! Both as we the expression “sometimes… sometimes…” implies this is somewhat of a habit of him not to be guided by the lights system, but also for the sheer stupidity to say something like this out-loud even if it is true.
MichaelN
12th March 2024, 14:27
Indeed, this is really bad. It’s not his job to make that judgement, for very good reasons.
Next time he’ll bump into someone and complain ‘we can’t see much from the cockpit boo-hoo’. Yeah… that’s why.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th March 2024, 10:56
So not the light operator’s error by showing green light prematurely or something, after all.
I never thought a driver would deliberately start moving from a pit box with the red light still lit & as the top poster already pointed out, an alarming admission that sends a risky message.
K (@sugoi)
12th March 2024, 11:02
Is Perez’s pitstop onboard published somewhere?
I’d like to see if he even checked his mirror.
LosD (@losd)
12th March 2024, 13:28
@sugoi If you have F1TV, you can see the incident in the archive by switching to the driver camera and go to 00:20:40.
… There wasn’t only the lights on the boom, a team member held a sign with copies of them as well. He had to move out of the way to not get hit (didn’t reeeeally look dangerous for the team member, but still makes it even more of an insane choice).
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
12th March 2024, 11:07
in that car, does a few seconds really matter ? when you can pass at will every car down the straight.
JOA20
12th March 2024, 11:24
Every car? Including the other Red Bull you mean?
MR IAN PUSEY
12th March 2024, 11:34
the red light is now suspended on full pay … to soon ???
Neil (@neilosjames)
12th March 2024, 12:25
I suppose one positive to take from this is that I’m impressed he can see so well via a small mirror, through a crowd of mechanics, to have sufficient confidence to believe he has a better idea of what’s coming up behind him than the team does.
Always used to hear about how useless the mirrors on F1 cars are, sounds like they’re a lot better now.
mantresx (@mantresx)
12th March 2024, 14:29
I’m sure they can see the pit lane traffic through the mirrors in more normal conditions, that’s very likely why they’re all able to pull away so quickly when it changes to green, they already know no one’s coming and are ready to take off but… in this case a night race with a very busy pit lane it definitely wasn’t the best idea to rely solely on that.
Mog
13th March 2024, 9:27
If you look at the pit crew lined up down the side of the car and relative to the mirror, its extremely unlikely the driver can see anything other than his crew
Jem (@j1jem)
12th March 2024, 12:49
“I don’t trust my team”
The Dolphins
12th March 2024, 14:56
That’s a reasonable takeaway, he has been given less preferential treatment in the past so that trust is not there. I can also see this as Perez fighting for a drive, especially after last season’s performance. With all the turmoil inside the team it’s possible that his fate is sealed at Red Bull and he is looking to impress other teams (Mercedes?) so why play the team game to his detriment?