Initially fourth on the sprint starting grid, Sergio Perez will finally start 13th this Saturday after the cancellation of his times in Q3, as a result of leaving the track during his best time in Q2, also erased.
Pierre Gasly will have something to feel cheated! Eleventh on the occasion of the second part of the qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix this Friday for a few thousandths, the AlphaTauri driver should have participated in the last segment. Indeed, Sergio Perez was heavily penalized for going out of bounds at turn 8 of the Red Bull Ring on the occasion of his fastest lap during Q2.
While the images seemed obvious at the time, the FIA stewards preferred to summon the Mexican at the end of the session. On this occasion, the representatives of the Red Bull Racing team argued that their driver did not gain the slightest advantage by going beyond the white lines, which delimit the track according to the notes of the race director transmitted at the stables ahead of the weekend. A justification that the FIA stewards immediately rejected.
Pérez will start 13th in the sprint
In effect, the latter rather retained the fact that Sergio Perez left the track without justifiable reason, which is also reprehensible in the eyes of the regulations. Considering that, in such a case, the penalty is the cancellation of the time taken during the lap in question, the Mexican saw his best Q2 time scratched from the shelves. As a result, to ensure fair treatment of all drivers, all times recorded by Sergio Pérez during Q3 have also been erased.
In other words, the Red Bull Racing driver will trade his fourth place this Saturday at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix sprint for a less brilliant 13th place and who will force him to whip in order to obtain a better starting position for the Grand Prix. In addition, Sergio Perez will not be able to help Max Verstappen, who will face the two Ferraris at the start of the sprint. George Russell is thus promoted to fourth place and all the drivers behind him up to Valtteri Bottas also move up one rank. Main victim in this case, Pierre Gasly will start from 10th place.
