Sergio Perez has been given a formal warning following comments he made in reference to a stewards decision.

The Mexican was handed a 5s time penalty after colliding with Lando Norris. The penalty meaning that though he crossed the line in second he subsequently dropped to fourth.

Entering Turn 6, notwithstanding that he was alongside the McLaren, the Mexican was deemed to have dived in late, missed the apex of the corner and understeered towards the outside of the corner colliding with the Briton.

In addition to the time penalty he was given 2 penalty points thereby bringing his total for the 12 month period to 7.

"I mean, the stewards are a joke," he commented over the team radio at the end of the race. "I cannot believe, I mean, they have been very bad this year, but this is a joke. That was really a joke."

Having been summoned by the stewards they explained to the Red Bull driver that while they had no issue with someone disagreeing with their decisions, comments that amount to personal insults are a breach of the International Sporting Code.

The stewards admitted that they were obviously conflicted since they were the subject of the radio statements and that while normally this would be referred to the next panel of stewards as this is the final event of the season, the matter needed to be dealt with today.

Perez made a "genuine and sincere" apology to each of the stewards and explained that he made the comments in the heat of the moment and did not consider the fact that they would be broadcast, and the impact of that.

He expressed his regret that his comments caused offence to anyone or might harm to the sport, which he said he was concerned to avoid.

The stewards accepted his statement and his apology, noting that the Mexican is not known for making such comments and has always been extremely respectful in stewards hearings.

He was also reminded that the stewards are always available to explain their decisions when requested by a driver or team representative.

Perez, his team manager and the stewards seemingly had a constructive discussion about the use and broadcast of team radio messages, while the original incident that led to his outburst was also reviewed in detail, and although he still disagreed with the decision he said he could understand the stewards' perspective.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Yas Marina here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by elsiebc, 04/12/2023 17:30

"@ Ed Uh, oh. With the post I just made on another article I fear that I will be called in for review. Please accept this genuine and sincere apology and I regret that my comments may have caused offence to anyone or might harm the sport or this publication, which I am concerned to avoid."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Editor, 03/12/2023 10:14

"@ elsiebc

In future, please ensure you adhere to our strict, ever changing rules in terms of what you may and may not post and kindly refrain from casting aspersions on the sport in the sense that language is "policed" as you put it.

Failure to do so will result in a ban and a possible 5s time penalty."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by elsiebc, 02/12/2023 17:06

"I'm sick and tired of having our language policed. "

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by kenji, 29/11/2023 12:30

"@Cobra Driver...The problem with mirrors is that some people only use them to see themselves...."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

5. Posted by Cobra Driver, 29/11/2023 10:41

"Unless I am sadly mistaken, Norris' McLaren has a weird appendage. It's called a mirror, and is meant to be used."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by givememychoice, 28/11/2023 10:42

"@endre I am genuinely confused. So, in 2021 the FIA was behind Red Bull at the expense of Mercedes. Pretty much all of time, Ferrari are given preferential treatment. In this race, Mercedes were given preferential treatment over Ferrari. So, who are the FIA backing?

Or is it that they dont particularly have a favourite, and any errors are down to humans being fallible?

As for the not naming the people. If i were to call the UK prime minister something, even though I dont name the person, its enough to identify. He has used a title, in its multiple, to address 3 people who are known. (Lars Osterlind, Tim Mayer and Martin Donnelly).
That said, it was also fairly generic in terms of they related to their perceived performance doing the thing they are meant to be doing. He wasnt referring to things outside their involvement thus not making it "personal", even though its known who he was talking about.

Personal thoughts...Perez was fine to say what he said.
He was responsible for the accident as stated below - lots of downvotes but no clarification as to where im wrong.
"

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by Bertieg, 28/11/2023 1:31

"The marketing of F1 with the TV cartoon characters was like watching Sesame Street,
Or Captain Kangaroo Childrens TV Shows. As bad was not showing the entire fields lap times
along with how far behind the “backmarkers” are from one another. I have always enjoyed watching the newer drivers who are driving their hearts out with lesser cars. (Me!? XI get much enjoyment out of watching & cheering Albon. (Almost as if he and others went home for the race
I guess the “ backmarkers”are no longer a part of the racing.
Liberty! Marketing….not racing, now treating many of us like little children, and yeah, I’m feeling pretty damn insulted with the liberty nonsense. "

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

8. Posted by kenji, 27/11/2023 13:34

"Like some others I too don't believe that Perez's comments were of a personal nature. He was expressing his opinion and that is his inalienable right and I don't subscribe to any conspiracy regarding favourable treatment of Mercedes but it certainly doesn't look good. Many have supported a 'racing incident' decision with no penalty and I still believe that that should have been the ultimate finding. I'm not a Perez supporter but in this case he has my full benediction."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

9. Posted by Endre, 27/11/2023 13:21

"This was one of the biggest BS decisions of the year, one which resulted in second place for Mercedes. They were fully alongside, Perez did slide out a little but Norris turned in too early and abruptly while he still had a full car width to his right. If anything this, was a sheared fault or racing incident. If moves like this will be punished, we can say good-bye to passing in F1.

Perez was absolutely right to make those comments and I didn't see him name anyone in particular so how can be what he said personal? Also, fully agree with Burton, pointing out that someone is bad at their job is not an insult. He should not have apologized.

If I was Ferrari, I would lodge a protest and also look into any ties the stewards had with Mercedes ..."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

10. Posted by givememychoice, 27/11/2023 11:20

"@cobra, really? take a look at the video on the f1 website (the one specifically of the crash). At 4 seconds, pause it at the point of contact. Where on earth is sergio going?
Yes, coming into the corner, Perez is along side, and so is entitled space. Lando gives him that and more. Perez messes up the corner. I dont believe it was in any way intentional, but that was on him. In modern stewarding i think its a slam dunk 5s for perez."

Rating: Negative (-5) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

11. Posted by Cobra Driver, 27/11/2023 10:37

"@kenji
I agree 100% my friend. Although some will say that the stewards had the advantage of a range of video feeds. To me, it was a pure case of driver error, the driver being Norris. "

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

12. Posted by Burton, 27/11/2023 10:36

"Saying someone is bad at their job isn't a personal insult."

Rating: Positive (4) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

13. Posted by kenji, 27/11/2023 1:29

"IMO it was a racing incident and Perez should not have got a penalty. Perez was fully alongside and Norris new he was there. "

Rating: Positive (9) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Perez warned over "personal insults"

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page