Sergio Perez jokingly brushed off criticism from Andrea Kimi Antonelli after the Italian was held up by the Cadillac driver in FP2 at the Madring.
Antonelli was frustrated in the second practice session at the Madring, finding himself held up by the Cadillac of Sergio Perez, taking to team radio to complain.
“Of course, always the same guy,” the Italian reported to his team.
After qualifying for the city’s inaugural hosting of the Spanish Grand Prix, Perez was asked about the incident, and offered an amusing riposte.
“I think he meant about… he was confused, probably with Valtteri,” he responded to media, including Motorsport Week.
Traffic proved to be an issue at the new Spanish GP track, with multiple such incidents of drivers having cars in their way throughout Friday and Saturday’s running.
According to Antonelli, the tight street circuit doesn’t provide many overtaking opportunities, telling the post-qualifying press conference on Saturday that he expects overtaking in the race to be “very difficult”.
Perez, on the other hand, has been enthusiastic about the Madring, calling it a “really cool track”.
“Yeah, really cool track, really nice venue,” he said ahead of the weekend. “Really happy to be here in Madrid. I think definitely this is going to become the best race in Europe.”
However, his positivity about the track was only rewarded with €1700 in fines after he was caught speeding in the pitlane twice in FP1.
The Mexican driver qualified nineteenth, a stark contrast to Antonelli’s P2 but a usual tale for Cadillac. They unfortunately remain the only team yet to score a point in 2026.
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