Sergio Perez has received a five-second time penalty for a clash with Alex Albon during the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix – but retains eighth place.
The Red Bull driver launched a lunge up the inside of Albon at Turn 13 but ended up making contact with the Williams driver as he forced his way past.
As a result of the incident, both drivers were summoned to the race stewards, who placed the blame predominantly with Perez.
The stewards considered Perez’s attempted overtake as an “‘optimistic’ late manoeuvre” that could be defined as “diving in”. The stewards also agreed that there was nothing that the Albon could have done to avoid the contact.
Perez, who branded the clash a “racing incident”, was awarded a five-second time penalty, which did not impact his eighth-place finishing position. Alex Albon finished the race 11th.
The Mexican was also handed one penalty point on his super license, instead of the usual two, as the stewards determined that the presence of the slower Liam Lawson ahead meant that Perez felt that a move was possible.
Perez and Albon were also involved in a second incident with each other, this time with the Williams driver allegedly overtaking Perez under Virtual Safety Car conditions.
Albon was returning to the track after exiting the pit lane and emerged alongside Perez. But as the two drivers crossed the second Safety Car line, timing systems and video evidence were both unable to determine the correct running order.
It was agreed that no further action would be taken as no definitive information was available.
“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.”
Perez is wrong. It wasn’t clear who was ahead. If you watch Perez’ onboard, he looks like he’s well ahead. But if you watch Albon’s, you don’t see Perez catch him until after Albon was across the line. From each perspective it looks like that driver was the one who was ahead. So it’s impossible to tell.
It’s unbelievable that the FIA can’t put a single camera right at the line for this exact reason though. Also, I’m getting really sick of watching Perez play bumper cars in order to pass people. That move WAS dirty, and it deserved a lot more than a 5-second penalty considering he forced Albon straight into the wall.
Given that Hamilton went off track to pass Perez, failed to give back the place, and went unpunished by the stewards, the five second penalty handed to Perez seems very harsh.
At least Hamilton didn’t wreck anyone on lap 1, unlike Perez, or drive someone straight towards the wall, like Perez did.
Not that Hamilton has anything to do with Perez getting punished for his terrible driving.
Hamilton took a short cut on lap one, and then took time to give back the places gained, severely impairing the chances of Russell and Norris to get a run at the Ferraris before they could settle into a rhythm. What Hamilton has to do with Perez is that he overtook Perez while off the track, yet received no penalty when he refused to give back the place.