Perez explains reasons behind safety car investigation

Sergio Perez says he was unable to keep up with the safety car when dropping more than 10 car lengths back, leaving his Singapore Grand Prix victory in jeopardy.

The Mexican is accused of dropping too far behind the safety car, with the stewards noting the incident during the race and then deciding to conduct an investigation afterwards. Following his meeting with the stewards, Perez says he made the error due to being unable to keep up with the safety car in certain areas of the track.

“I am pretty confident there is nothing with it because there was a bit of miscommunication with them,” Perez said. “In the places I could keep up, (the safety car) was super slow and then when I couldn’t, he was fast.

“These conditions are not normal and especially the final sector it was super tricky. I think the stewards understood my explanation and are happy with it.”

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Perez finished over seven seconds clear of Charles Leclerc but Ferrari believes there were two incidents that could promote its driver to victory.

“Very curious to see,” team principal Mattia Binotto said. “There were two infringements behind safety cars, so it should be twice penalty, but we can only trust what they decide.

“We believe that infringement -- the last time it happened I think it was (Antonio) Giovinazzi in 2020, I think it was a five-second penalty. But it’s difficult to judge. We’ll leave it to the stewards but hopefully it can change the final result.”