Perez takes blame for Jeddah penalty – edges closer to race ban

Sergio Perez owned up to the unsafe release and subsequent penalty handed to him by the Saudi Arabian GP stewards and that pushes him closer to a race ban.

Launching his race from third, Perez gained the upper hand at the start over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc only for the Monegasque to recoup his spot four corners later.

However, he overhauled Leclerc for good on lap 4 and spent the remainder of the evening within several seconds of poleman and eventual race winner Max Verstappen, ensuring a comfortable Red Bull 1-2.

But the Mexican admitted that his race wasn’t as smooth as it should have been.

“Yeah, it was quite a bit more chaotic [than Verstappen’s race],” Perez said.

“I had a great start. Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep ahead of Charles because he kept it there and obviously I gave him the space into Turn 2 and it was his corner then in Turn 4.

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“So that was a nice start, good start once again. And from then on, I was able to get through Charles, I think within two or three laps. And then it was looking good, the race.

“I was within three seconds from Max, and I think the degradation on that Medium stint was looking quite good.

“But unfortunately, then we were compromised with such an early Safety Car, and that meant that basically everyone just pitted.”

The race’s early safety car encouraged Red Bull to follow the trend and pit both its drivers on lap 7, swapping the medium compound for the hard tyre and the prospect of a low-deg long second stint.

However, Perez jumped the gun at the end of his pitstop and released himself straight into the path of the oncoming Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

The stewards had no choice but to hit the Mexican with a five-second penalty. Fortunately, the sanction did not put his runner-up spot in the race in jeopardy, as Leclerc was 10 seconds behind the second Red Bull.

“When I was going out, it was actually my mistake, because I was told by the team to hold it back,” Perez explained.

“When I looked at the mirror, there was no one. I saw that I didn’t have the proper release. But I didn’t see anyone.

“So sometimes the team can be a little bit slower than you in the car. But this time was the other way around. Yeah, my bad in that one,

“But in hindsight, I think the penalty was correct. Yeah, my bad in that one.”

Perez nevertheless finds himself on thin ice as he has now collected eight penalty points on his super licence, or just four points short of an outright one-race ban.

Furthermore, the earliest penalty points he received won't expire until September, meaning the Mexican will need to be on his best behaviour until then.

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