2023-09-24 09:04:27
(Motorsport-Total.com) – “We’re taking the car out of the race.” Red Bull driver Sergio Perez heard this sentence several times on the radio at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. And he was eliminated twice (!) in this race.
Sergio Perez in the Red Bull RB19 at the Formula 1 race in Suzuka 2023
How it works? The first failure occurred following 15 laps as a result of various incidents and with a crooked steering wheel. Perez parked the RB19 in the pits and got out. But Red Bull later sent him out on track once more, only to bring him back in on lap 43 to abandon the race in the pits for a second time.
But is it even allowed to restart a race following you have already finished it? Red Bull sports director Helmut Marko sees himself and his team in the right. In the ORFAfter the race, he said: “I don’t think we violated the regulations. Everything is within the framework of the regulations.”
Wurz: Red Bull did everything right
Formula 1 expert Alexander Wurz also sees it this way in his ORF-Analysis – and he sees nothing that speaks once morest Red Bull’s approach: “When you get out of the car, it is [zwar für dich] the official end of the Grand Prix. However, there are exceptions if you have to get out to repair something. Repairing itself is allowed.”
“You can change the front wing in the pits. You can let yourself be pushed in, change something briefly, then drive out once more. This is permitted by the regulations.”
What is crucial in this case, according to Wurz, is that Red Bull probably convinced the race management “that they had to let Perez get out in order to check something on the seat or in the cockpit for safety reasons, and that it was always the intention for him to continue driving.” .
“Of course you can say: If it was already said ‘we’re taking the car out of the race’ that it was very far-fetched. But why not? You have to take advantage of the regulations.”
It’s “like doing your tax return,” says Wurz and explains: “You try to structure it optimally for yourself. That’s how Red Bull does it too. If they get away with it, then it’s good.”
Why Perez stood in the pits for so long
In any case, it was not due to any lengthy negotiations between Red Bull and the race management that Perez’s car was in the pits for over 41 minutes, as an FIA spokesman asked Motorsport-Total.com has confirmed. There was no instruction to hold the car back for so long. Red Bull probably just took so long to repair.
But why did Perez have to go back on track? Because he had received a five-second time penalty for a self-inflicted crash with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, but had not “served” it before his first retirement. And that might have been a problem for Perez in the next race.
The Formula 1 sporting regulations state under Article 54.3 Section d: “If a driver is unable to take part in a race due to a penalty because he drops out, then the sports stewards can impose a starting place penalty for the driver’s next race.”
The emphasis in this formulation is on “may”: So a penalty does not automatically follow, but a penalty might follow. But Red Bull didn’t want to risk anything. That’s what Marko says in ORF: “We arranged it this way so that next time we don’t have a starting place penalty [für Perez] receive.”
The crucial final pit stop for Perez
To do this, Perez had to go back into the race and complete a pit stop, during which the time penalty might be “served” before changing the tires. Perez made this stop immediately following returning to the track. As soon as we left the pit lane, the radio message rang out: “We’ll take the car out of the race at the end of the lap.” Perez was out for a second time.
For Red Bull there was more at stake at that moment than just a possible grid penalty for Perez in the following race. To “serve” the penalty, Perez blocked his team’s pit spot for a short time, which might have been to the detriment of teammate Max Verstappen.
“We timed it so that Max always had priority,” explains sports director Marko Sky. “That means we sent him out in such a way that he mightn’t hinder Max in any way in the event of a safety car phase.” The situation was solved “optimally for the team”.
“A pitch-black day” for Perez in Suzuka
And all because, according to Marko, Perez had experienced a “black day” in Suzuka. Perez himself speaks of a “terrible start”, which is why he was “practically just a passenger” in Turn 1, sandwiched between Carlos Sainz on the right and Lewis Hamilton on the left. “Then the end plate of the front wing flew and I immediately no longer had any contact pressure on the front axle,” says Perez.
This was followed by the first repair stop on lap two to change the nose. “But it remained unchanged,” says Perez. “So I guess there was more damage to the car.”
He then had a hard time, especially with the brakes. This was evident a few laps later in the unsuccessful maneuver once morest Magnussen in the hairpin bend. “I tried something, but then I mightn’t slow down in time,” says Perez, who hit Magnussen completely in the side and forced him into a spin. “That was of course my mistake,” admits Perez. And the sports commissioners saw it the same way.
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