Helmut Marko expressed his disagreement with
Sergio Perez's 3-place grid penalty for the upcoming race in Spain and brought out
Lewis Hamilton's example from the past.
The 2024
Canadian Grand Prix weekend was yet another challenging one for
Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez, who didn't finish the race and compromised his next Grand Prix in Spain.
How did he manage to do it? The Mexican driver lost control of his RB20 on lap 52 and crashed the rear into the wall at the end of the run-off area in turn number 6.
His car was badly damaged and should have been left there to be picked up by a crane or pushed off into a safe area behind walls (by track marshalls) under the safety car.
However, the second Red Bull driver,
Max Verstappen, was in the lead, and the safety car could compromise his race, so Perez was ordered to bring his car back into the pits.
On his way into the pit lane, he left a considerable amount of debris on the track, which could potentially be dangerous. The stewards decided to give Checo a 3-place grid penalty going into the next race in Barcelona.
Writing in his column for Speedweek.com, Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko shared his team's perspective on the matter:
"Three-place grid penalty for Perez in the Spain starting lineup because he didn't pull his damaged car off the track in Montreal, but brought it back to the pits."
"I think this is too harsh a punishment because, in a race with changing conditions, you have to bring your car back, especially when it's initially unclear what the exact damage is."
Red Bull also received a $25,000 penalty for instructing the 34-year-old driver to bring the car back into the pits, but Marko asserted that data available to his team suggested it was the right decision.
"Perez's rearview mirrors were dirty, so he couldn't even see what the situation was at the rear. We, on the other hand, could see from the data that the suspensions were fine, so of course, you try to bring the car back and ideally be able to fight for points again."
Marko accepted the decision of the stewards but brought out the example of Lewis Hamilton winning the 2020 British Grand Prix with a puncture on his left front wheel.
"The race stewards then explained that parts of his car had fallen off. But hello! I remember that Lewis Hamilton once drove to the finish line on three wheels in Silverstone and won. Strange, back then, there was no penalty."
Although the 81-year-old has a point, the condition of Hamilton's car in 2020 and Perez's car last weekend in Canada was very different.
It should also be noted that the seven-time World Champion didn't leave any debris on the track on that occasion. Do you think these two incidents can be compared?
