Sergio Perez was handed a time penalty after the conclusion of the Singapore Grand Prix over an incident involving Alex Albon.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez collided with Williams’ Alex Albon during the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, and as a result, Perez was given a five-second time penalty but still placed eighth.
The Red Bull driver attempted to overtake Albon at Turn 13 by lunging up the inside of the Williams, but he instead collided with the car as he went through.
Both drivers were summoned before the race stewards as a result of the incident, and they largely determined Perez was responsible for the incident. One penalty point was added to his licence, as he received a five-second time penalty.
Perez’s attempt to overtake was seen by the stewards to be a “‘optimistic’ late manoeuvre” that could be characterized as “diving in.” The stewards also concurred that the Albon was incapable of avoiding the collision.
Perez received a five-second time penalty for the collision, which he called a “racing incident,” but it had no effect on his eighth-place result. Alex Albon placed 11th overall.
Explaining the decision, the stewards wrote: “At the approach to Turn 13, Car 23 [Albon] was in front, with Car 40 [Lawson] in front of both of them and travelling slower. Car 23 attempted to take the normal racing line through Turn 13 and was not aware of the exact location of Car 11 [Perez]. Car 11 make a move down the inside of Car 23 and in doing so collided with Car 23.
“The stewards considered that this was an ‘optimistic’ late manoeuvre by the driver of Car 11, that it could be defined as ‘diving in’, and that there was nothing that the driver of Car 23 could have done to avoid the collision. Accordingly it is determined that the driver of Car 11 was predominantly to blame.
The stewards decided that the presence of the slower Liam Lawson ahead meant that Perez thought that a move was possible, therefore he was only given one penalty point instead of the usual two on his super license.
“We note the presence of the slower Car 40 in front of Car 23 caused the driver of Car 11 to believe he could make the overtake and therefore in mitigation of penalty, we determined to allocate only one penalty point.”
Additionally, Perez and Albon were involved in another incident, this time involving the Williams driver who allegedly overtook Perez while using the Virtual Safety Car.
Albon popped up next to Perez from the pit lane as he was making his way back to the track. But timing devices and video evidence failed to establish the proper racing order as the two drivers crossed the second Safety Car line.
It was decided that since no conclusive information was available, no further action would be taken.
“I was ahead of him and Alex overtook me under the Safety Car,” Perez claimed. “But the system is not good enough, so they couldn’t tell us at the time that I was ahead.
“But anyway, it’s how things are and now let’s look forward to Japan.”
However, the incidents are a fitting conclusion to what turned out to be a disappointing race weekend for Red Bull.
Red Bull will attempt to rebound from a disappointing weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix as red Bull boss Christian Horner deemed the race “a strong performance,” despite the fact that his team was unable to make up for the dismal qualifying performance.
“We were very unlucky,” Horner said after the race. “The safety car could not have come at a worse time and that killed any chance for us to get into contention.
“Max’s pace at the end and then with Checo coming back through also made for a very strong performance.
“We knew that the run would come to an end at some point and we reflect on the job well done by the Team. 15 wins in a row is an incredible feat. 10 wins for Max is something that is equally remarkable.
“We carry a lot of momentum heading into Japan and look forward to getting out and going again.”
