Force India teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon collided during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix costing the team a possible podium or two, and as far as the Mexican is concerned what took place was unacceptable.
Perez told reporters ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, “What happened in Baku was totally unacceptable from a team point of view, that’s the feedback I got from the team.”
“In all my experience I’ve had with my team-mates the competition was always really intense but never to that extent and never to unnecessarily crashing into each other.”
“I gave him enough room to do the manoeuvre, he was already ahead, and there was no need at all to ruin our races. At the end of the day it’s the team that pays the price.”
“Racing means just racing another car, not crashing into another car. Pretty much all the team-mates on the grid are free to race and with respect to the other car. In four years with Nico [Hulkenberg] we never had an issue.
“We were free to race, we had big battles on track, but we were always free to race. As long as Esteban understands what racing means that should be clear.”
Before the race in Baku the pair were also focus of a tussle in Canada where Perez refused to allow Ocon pass despite the youngster’s superior pace which may have also cost the team a podium.
The pair have not discussed the incident in Baku where Ocon dived past Perez after the second Safety Car restart, but clipped the front end of the Mexican’s car. The pair were running third and fourth at that point, but the contact compromised their race with Perez retiring and Ocon soldiering on to finish sixth.
Perez explained, “If I look back, there’s nothing I could have some differently to avoid the accident. We lost a podium, probably with both cars, and a lot of points. Our main rival [Williams] took the podium. We’ve moved on since then and we have to look forward.”
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
No comments:
Post a Comment