The 2023 season has been a season of mixed results for Sergio Perez. Despite having the fastest car in the grid, people can count his podium appearances with their hands. Apart from this, his disastrous qualifying performances have all raised a lot of scrutiny around the Mexican.

That being said, over the last couple of races, the Mexican Minister of Defence found a new breath. Apart from the recently concluded Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver managed to finish P3 in both of his last two races. He would have managed to finish P3 in Abu Dhabi as well, if not for a strange penalty doled out by the stewards.

Sergio Perez snapped on the wrist by the stewards

Sergio Perez, after another disastrous quali, had an amazing Sunday evening in Abu Dhabi. He had the pace, he was making all the moves that were required, and his team was bang-on in terms of strategy. Every single piece was in place for a dream finish in an otherwise mixed season for the Mexican.

However, thanks to a strange, low-speed turn-6 incident with Lando Norris, the stewards decided to hand him a 5-second penalty. Perez, on hearing about this from his race engineer, immediately stated, “The stewards are a joke.”

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While drivers are allowed to disagree with the decisions made by the stewards out loud, calling them a joke amounts to personal insults. This is in violation of the International Sporting Code, landing Perez in trouble.

Subsequently, Perez did go and apologize to the stewards, stating that it was a momentary lapse of judgment in the “heat of the moment.” The stewards, after issuing a warning, had the following to say.

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“The driver made a genuine and sincere apology to each of the stewards and explained that he made the comments in the heat of the moment and did not consider the fact that they would be broadcast, and the impact of that, He expressed his regret that his comments caused offence to anyone or harm to the sport, which he said he was concerned to avoid. The stewards accept his statements and accept his apology.”

Perez’s strange penalty

Perez, on much fresher tires and a faster pace, managed to get on the inside of Norris on turn 6. For a second, he went ahead but missed the apex by a little bit. Perhaps expecting Perez to hit the apex, Lando also turned in, causing the two to collide, and the Briton to go wide off the track.

Fans and commentators alike were thinking at the time that it would be categorized as a racing incident. However, the stewards decided to hand a 5-second penalty to the Mexican instead. As you read earlier, he didn’t take it too well.

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Naturally, this whole saga left him with no chance of finishing in the podium places, despite managing to overtake Russell (not to mention Leclerc letting him through) several laps later.