Sergio Perez will drop one place on the grid from wherever he qualifies after clashing with Kimi Raikkonen during practice for Formula 1’s Tuscan Grand Prix.
Perez collided with Raikkonen shortly after he exited the pit lane during FP2, pitching the Alfa Romeo driver into a spin, and losing some parts from his front wing.
Stewards determined that Perez was “warned by his team” that Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Alexander Albon were approaching, and there was a blue flag waved.
They deemed it was “apparent that he saw Raikkonen in his mirrors.”
Perez “argued that the pit exit is extremely long and he had reached a high speed by the time he was passed by Raikkonen and that he was unable to take a different approach to the turn.”
Stewards noted that they considered other incidents in free practice, including the reprimand given to Valtteri Bottas in Abu Dhabi last year when he clashed with Romain Grosjean.
As a consequence they “reduced the normal penalty for an offence of this type from three grid positions to one”, noting that Perez was exiting the pits while Raikkonen was on a fast lap.
