Singapore: Force India (FI) team principal Otmar Szafnauer has read the riot act to Sergio Perez, describing his erratic performance at the Singapore Grand Prix as ‘unacceptable’ after the Mexican pushed his teammate Estaban Ocon into the wall on the opening lap.
Perez ended the Frenchman’s race after just three corners, held up Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and had another collision with Sergey Sorotkin’s Williams before he eventually crossed the line in 16th place after an eventful Grand Prix, here Sunday night.
“You say to them that’s unacceptable, there’s enough room on the left hand side as I could see. You’ve got to give your teammate enough room,” an angry Szafnauer told reporters. “If it’s somebody else and it’s not your teammate, it’s a racing incident. But if it’s your teammate then you’ve got to give him room. If they continued to fight for space, we have different methods of separating them. Hope we don’t have to employ those,” he added.
Perez apologised to his team over the radio soon after the safety car was deployed when Ocon crashed out. The Mexican said he was unaware who he had made contact with during the chaotic start to a race won by Lewis Hamilton.
“It was a very unfortunate incident, one of those it is very hard to avoid,” said Perez, who had started seventh on the grid after a strong qualifying session.
“As I am picking up the power I just get a clip from one car — I had not even realised that was Esteban — and then as I get a message from the team, I was very sorry for that. A very hard day for us.
“I don’t think I have much to say (to Ocon). I am just very sorry for the day the team had in general,” added Perez.