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Perez plays down Sirotkin crash

Perez plays down Sirotkin crash

27-09-2018 15:18

Sergio Perez had a more than eventful race at the Singapore Grand Prix last time out, crashing into both his team mate Esteban Ocon and the Williams of Sergey Sirotkin.

The crash with Ocon was particularly poor on the Mexican’s part, running into him on the exit of turn three and pushing his team mate into the barriers and out of the race.

Later in the afternoon, he made a meal of overtaking Sirotkin, and seemed to sideswipe into the Russian driver after eventually completing the move.

Perez still however, remains that it was not intentional and that he thought he was beyond the Williams when he moved across.

“I’ve obviously seen it, and in my opinion, it looks a lot worse from the outside,” Perez said ahead of this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix. “With these mirrors, it’s very hard to see behind, so I lost the reference.

“I thought I already did the move on the first corner, and I was speaking on the radio at the point that I saw him, and then I just misjudged where he was.

“I was trying to close the door before braking, but he was just too close. It was just my fault. I got the penalty which I think was quite right.

“Nothing to say really other than accepting my mistake.”

Perez is still adamant that Sirotkin moved under braking too much, but it acceptant of his mistake.

He is tenth in the drivers’ standings as it stands, just seven points behind Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, who currently sits in seventh.