Perez hits out at F1 penalty system after Q2 exit

Sergio Perez said “the system is wrong” when it comes to lap times being deleted after the Red Bull driver was eliminated in Q2 at the Austrian Grand Prix for three separate deletions.

Race control retained a strict approach to track limits at the Red Bull Ring this year, with the white line defining the track edge and if no part of any wheel is within it then the time will be deleted. Perez had seen his first two laps in Q2 deleted so was told to ensure he did not take any risks on his final run. He says another car impeded him that forced him to go off track and get eliminated in 15th place.

“On the way in we were a bit confused, but then once I got the feedback that it was on the way into Turn 10, it was all clear,” Perez said. “I was on a good lap but then all of a sudden on my final lap I found I think (Alex) Albon, and I just went straight, I could not stop. I think I lost a tenth or a bit more than that just by going straight but the stewards wouldn’t consider that I was blocked.

“There’s only so many things I can control and unfortunately this one you are closing a good lap and then all of a sudden you are blocked and you have a penalty. I think the system is wrong.

“We will try (to fight back on Sunday). It’s just frustrating that we don’t have a good system and we are not able to consider when these things happen.”

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The Mexican’s team principal Christian Horner was less sympathetic, however, saying the risk of losing a final lap time was “crystal clear” to Perez and he should have anticipated the traffic ahead.

“He’s got the pace today,” Horner told Sky Sports. “He’s got a car that was easily capable to be on the first or second row. He was matching Max (Verstappen)’s times... stay in the white lines! Strike one, strike two, ‘Checo just stay in the white lines,’ strike three and that was it. So I mean, hugely frustrating as he could have been there, he could have done it. So that’s the frustration. Fantastic to have got the pole but feels not complete.

“It’s hugely frustrating because we know he can do it. He did a 1m04.9s on that lap -- he was three-hundredths off Max. He could have been four-tenths slower and still been in. Q2... that’s not the time to be doing it. So that was the frustrating thing because he could have done it today.

“(The car ahead) is not going to have helped, but then you build a little more margin. Checo, frustrated, will turn a page and race hard tomorrow. But it’s just annoying because we know he could have been there.”