Post-race penalties? Sergio Pérez was retroactively penalized for the incident with the safety car

2022 Singapore Grand Prix winner Sergio Pérez received a five-second penalty after the race for an incident with the safety car. However, he did not lose his championship thanks to his lead over second-placed Charles Leclerc.

The Mexican Pérez did eventually receive a penalty from race HQ after the Singapore Grand Prix, but did not lose the win.

In fact, the Red Bull driver was handed a five-second penalty, but Pérez had a 7.595-second lead over second-placed Leclerc. He still had over two and a half seconds to spare. And the reason Pérez was given this penalty?

According to the sporting commissaires, on two occasions he failed to maintain a distance of less than ten car lengths behind the safety car. So Pérez received both penalties for the same thing.

Notably, the Mexican racer and 2022 Singapore Grand Prix winner only received a warning for the first offence, as the stewards took the wet and difficult conditions as a mitigating factor.

“Although the track was partly wet, we do not agree that the conditions were such that it would have been impossible or dangerous for Perez to maintain the required less than 10 car lengths. Nevertheless, we have taken into account the wet conditions and the difficulties highlighted as mitigating circumstances for this incident,” said the sports commissioners,” whose words were quoted by Motorsport.

However, for the second offence, the stewards said Pérez had clearly failed to comply with the rule at Turns 13 and 14.

“Car number 11 was the leading car on lap 36 and during the second safety car exit. While the safety car lights were still on, Pérez failed to stay within 10 car lengths of the safety car between Turns 13 and 14,” the stewards’ statement also read.

Pérez did not escape the victory

So, as we have written above, Pérez was able to celebrate victory despite the time penalty because he had a sufficient lead. In retrospect, however, the Red Bull driver can be glad that he did not earn a bigger penalty from the directorate.

If the sports commissioners had not taken into account the wet and difficult racing conditions for the first infringement, the Mexican would have gained an additional five seconds. And in this case, he would have given the victory to Leclerc.

Sources