While he was allowed to enter the pit lane and continue, Red Bull elected to retire Perez's vehicle on Lap 24, leaving him in last place.
Follow Us
Sergio Perez was enraged after a Lap 1 collision with Mercedes’ George Russell caused him to withdraw from the Austrian Grand Prix early. And the Red Bull driver bemoaned his second DNF in three races, which has dropped him to second in the drivers’ standings behind Charles Leclerc. Perez started the race in fifth place, having risen from 13th in the Sprint, and sought to pass Russell into Turn 4 in order to get into the battle for the podium spots. Perez was knocked into the gravel as he attempted to round the outside of the Mercedes driver.
While he was allowed to enter the pit lane and continue, Red Bull elected to retire Perez’s vehicle on Lap 24, leaving him in last place. “It is very frustrating. In the first Lap of the race and I think it was important to go without any incidents out there. It was a big shame that we had our race ended so early. I had the whole race ahead of me and I thought I had good opportunities coming my way, so it was very painful. We had a lot of damage to the car, and we were going nowhere so we had to retire.” said Perez.
Regarding the Lap 1 crash, for which Russell received a five-second penalty, Perez said he did everything he could do to avoid contact with the British driver. “There was nothing, to be honest, I could have done differently – other than going straight into the gravel to make sure he has a free road. I gave him enough room, he had enough room to do that move and it was up to him really to control the car and I was just clearly ahead.”
“I don’t know what else to say, I was clearly ahead, and I had the position, and it was down to him to really avoid the contact. I gave all the room I could to George on Lap 1, there was enough room for both cars not to crash and unfortunately, we ended up colliding. I don’t know what else I could have done.” expressed Perez.
Read more: 2022 F1 French Grand Prix: Schedule, Timings and Live Streaming details
With Charles Leclerc’s triumph on Sunday, who put the Monegasque past Sergio Perez into the P2 slot in the standings, Ferrari have reduced Red Bull’s constructors’ championship advantage to 56 points. Perez is currently 57 points behind teammate Max Verstappen in the drivers’ title. Perez, though, didn’t seem that concerned since he thought the two would continue to spar for the remainder of the season.
