Why Perez expects penalty for Hamilton from "strict" stewards
- Nicole Mulder
Sergio Perez was furious with Lewis Hamilton during qualifying at Circuit Zandvoort. The Mexican felt hindered by the seven-time world champion and complained about the Mercedes driver via team radio. The stewards wanted to speak to Hamilton, and Perez expects nothing less than a grid penalty for the Briton.
Perez wants penalty for Hamilton
The Mexican was on a fast lap when Hamilton drove in front of him. Perez had to brake and abort his lap. "What the f**k is this idiot doing? F**k!", Perez sounded furious on the team radio. Hamilton in turn felt he did nothing wrong.
Perez then had to drive an extra lap and thus use an extra set of tyres. "Yeah, that was unfortunate. I think it was just the wrong time, the wrong moment. Lewis was on the racing line. There was nothing I could do other than fit another set, which was very costly in Q3," the Mexican told GPblog and others.
"I should also have been putting a better lap on my first attempt in Q2, but yeah, just unfortunate, because I think our qualifying could have looked a bit different with two sets. He tried his best, but unfortunately we just ended up at the wrong time, wrong moment."
Perez expects a penalty for the Mercedes driver anyway. "The stewards have been really strict this year. I've got penalties for a lot worse than that, so I do expect him to get a penalty, unfortunately, because I think he did the best he could," he noted.
This article has been written in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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