Pérez: Why do I have to pay for the incompetence of the FIA?! The Red Bull driver was given a very controversial penalty

Formula 1 has completed its eleventh race of the season – the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. Red Bull’s home race was dominated by Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari, but apart from the beautiful duels, this race had one such aftertaste. And that was the FIA’s decision on track limits.

It’s the kind of thing that spoils an otherwise great Formula One race. And especially at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, it really showed.

The race directorate handed out so many warnings during the Austrian Grand Prix for breaking track limits that it’s not even worth counting. For example, Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Lando Norris (McLaren) served their five-second penalties during the eleventh race of the season.

Indeed, a number of drivers received cautions via the black and white flag, but the biggest controversy in terms of track limit violations came in Friday’s qualifying.

It pointed out many things about this rule. Before Sunday’s race, Pérez said that the FIA had not monitored the track limits in Austria correctly, and the Mexican driver was punished too harshly.

Indeed, the Red Bull driver was fourth in the standings in Friday’s qualifying, but Pérez was investigated by the FIA for breaching track limits at the end of the second part of qualifying (Q2). Usually, however, the FIA erases these times immediately after the completion of that fast lap.

However, Pérez did not incur any penalty at first, so the Mexican driver advanced to Q3, or the final part of qualifying, thanks to his fast time. And in that race, his time of 1:05.404 gave him fourth place, which would be his starting position for Saturday’s sprint.

However, due to his inability to clear Pérez’s time in Q2, the sports commissioners first allowed the Red Bull driver to enter Q3, then subsequently deleted his successful attempts. This meant that Pérez was left with his original time from the middle part of qualifying and a sprint start from 11th place.

However, this decision provoked a number of negative reactions, not only in the fan community but also among many experts. As the investigation itself stated – although Pérez did not gain any advantage by going outside the permitted length of the track, he was still penalised.

Pérez put on a really decent ‘damage limit’ performance in Saturday’s sprint, finishing fifth behind Verstappen, both Ferraris and George Russell.

“I definitely did something wrong, but I also think I paid the price for the FIA’s failure to keep track limits under control. I got a harsher penalty than I should have. I wasted my extra tyres in Q3,” Pérez told Motorsport.

“It would take more consistency in decision-making, so hopefully we can get some rhythm and start working with the FIA,” he added.

F1, Motorsport