Sergio Perez believes it was a case of “wrong place, wrong time” when he was involved in a multi-car accident in the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint Race.
Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon attempted to run three wide into Turn 2 but tangled, sending all three out of proceedings.
The incident handed Max Verstappen a third consecutive World Drivers’ Championship and a shot at the win through a third Safety Car spell.
Perez found himself on the outside as Ocon attempted a move up the inside of Hulkenberg. The Alpine caught the front wing of the Haas, pitching Ocon into a spin which collected Perez.
“It was wrong place, wrong time, exactly,” the Mexican reflected. “The race didn’t start particularly well, because we were on the medium tyre, with very low grip at the start of the race on that tyre. But we were recovering, we were making good progress.
“But, unfortunately, as I was making more progress, they had this contact and I paid the price and there was massive damage on my car.
“It has massive, massive damage. It’s been a very frustrating day, but tomorrow is a new opportunity and we will give our best.”
The Red Bull driver was unable to assess whether any driver could be particularly blamed for the unfortunate coming together that had dramatic consequences.
All three were summoned by the Stewards, who have since confirmed no further action will be taken. They deemed that no driver was predominantly to blame as Ocon was unsighted of Perez moving alongside Hulkenberg.
Ocon described the Lap 12 tangle as an “unfortunate racing incident” after a pretty strong start to his race which had the Frenchman running in the points positions.
“On our side, we had a good start to the race, moving up three positions with some good battles in the first few laps,” the Alpine driver said.
“We slowly started dropping back with the heavy degradation on the Softs and our race ended prematurely when we found ourselves side by side with Sergio [Perez] and Nico [Hulkenberg] into Turn 2.
“I felt contact on my rear right tyre and ended up in the gravel. An unfortunate racing incident. We now look ahead to tomorrow where we’ll look to collect some valuable points in the Grand Prix”
Hulkenberg was in the battle to secure a much-needed points place for Haas after placing seventh in the earlier Sprint Shootout.
The German believes the crash represented a missed opportunity, however, having elected to start on the more durable Medium tyre before finding himself sandwiched.
“It was a pity as on the medium tire, I think the race would’ve come to us,” he said. “As you could see towards the end, all the soft runners were very ambitious and struggling a lot, and we were in a good position.
“Ocon was starting to struggle and that’s how I was able to attack him. Perez was coming from the back and was so quick, and somehow got in the mix and I saw him really late as I was focused on Ocon, and Ocon probably didn’t know or couldn’t see that I had a car on my other side and there was no more room.
“It’s bad for us as today was the day where we could’ve scored something and I’m very disappointed with that, today was the opportunity.”
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