Perez pleads guilty: 'I wasn't allowed by the team, but I didn't see anyone'

Sergio Perez is having a fine 2024 so far. The Mexican finished second for the second week running. He finished behind teammate Max Verstappen both times. After the race, 'Checo' looked back which he said was quite chaotic.

"it was quite a bit more chaotic. I had a great start. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep ahead of Charles because he kept it there and obviously I gave him the space into Turn 2 and it was his corner then in Turn 4. So that was a nice start, good start once again. And from then on, I was able to get through Charles, I think within two or three laps. And then it was looking good, the race. I was within three seconds from Max, and I think the degradation on that Medium stint was looking quite good. But unfortunately, then we were compromised with such an early Safety Car, and that meant that basically everyone just pitted. And when I was going out, it was actually my mistake, because I was told by the team to hold it back," said the Mexican

So Perez pleads guilty, but: "But in hindsight, I looked on the right and there was nobody there when I looked. But in hindsight, I think the penalty was correct and that pretty much compromised our race."

View from the pit lane

So in the end it was Perez's own fault, how much does such a driver actually see during a pit stop? "You are able to have a bit of awareness of what's going on around you, definitely. And when I looked at the mirror, there was no one. I saw that I didn't have the proper release. But I didn't see anyone. So sometimes the team can be a little bit slower than you in the car. But this time was the other way around. So... Yeah, my bad in that one, but still happily didn't change a race," Perez said.