Perez hit with pit lane start for missing weigh bridge

Sergio Perez has to start the United States Grand Prix from the pit lane as a result of missing the weigh bridge at the end of FP2.

The Racing Point driver missed the red light at the pit entry that directs him to stop at the FIA weigh bridge, instead continuing to the team’s garage. With Racing Point carrying out a practice pit stop -- although team principal Otmar Szafnauer insisted the same tires were kept on the car to keep it in its original condition -- the team then pushed it back to the weigh bridge.

As Racing Point had worked on the car, Perez has been handed a pit lane start for Sunday’s race, with the stewards pointing out that they were unable to choose any other penalty.

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“The stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 11 (Sergio Perez) and the team representative and determined that the driver failed to stop for weighing when required to do so,” the stewards’ decision read.

“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.”

Perez had struggled during Friday practice compared to teammate Lance Stroll -- who finished FP2 in the top 10 -- and was critical of how bumpy Circuit of The Americas is after the session.