Sergio Perez says Formula 1 must use the upcoming off-season to address the persistent problems it encounters with enforcing track limits.
The Red Bull driver originally took fifth on the grid with his final lap in qualifying before it was deleted because he ran wide at turn one. That left him ninth on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Perez did not believe he had committed an infraction at first, asking his race engineer Hugo Bird: “Are we sure?” when told of his violation.
“We’ll double-check but race control message [says] we’ve lost it.” Bird replied. “I don’t think it was out,” Perez answered.
Speaking to media including RaceFans afterwards Perez admitted the situation was “frustrating.”
“Especially when it’s so close and you just have to rely on the stewards,” he continued. “It’s what it is now, but I really hope that in the winter we are able to find better solutions.
“For the drivers, but also for the people back home because it’s just confusing for everyone. I don’t think it looks nice, finishing qualifying and then you have teams that will be arguing this afternoon to try to get penalties on others.
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“I just feel like it’s some work that we’ve got ahead of us to try to come up with a better solution on track limits.”
Penalties for track limits violations have been more acute at some circuits than others, particularly those with flat exit kerbs and generous run-off areas. Perez said F1 “should be working on a better solution than what we have now and working on the circuits.”
“I think we create these issues for ourselves just with how the circuits are,” he concluded.
Perez was one of six drivers who had at least one lap time deleted for a track limits infringement in today’s qualifying session, including his team mate Max Verstappen. Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly also lost one time each.
Two drivers had two lap times deleted for exceeding track limits: Logan Sargeant, who failed to set a time in Q1 as a result, and Nico Hulkenberg, who will start one place ahead of Perez.
Perez previously fell foul of F1’s track limits enforcement in qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix, where all three of his attempts in Q2 were struck off, leaving him 15th on the grid.
Formula 1 stewards urged the FIA to impose more rigorous track limits solutions after a spate of penalties at the Austrian and United States grands prix this year.
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