Sergio Perez was handed a five-second time penalty at the Japanese Grand Prix for a safety car infringement, setting him back even further in what was a scrappy start to his race.
The Mexican driver was first involved in a lap-one tussle with Lewis Hamilton in which he pushed the Mercedes driver onto the grass after attempting to go four cars wide with two Ferrari drivers on the opening lap.
This contact wiped out Checo’s front-wing end plate, forcing the Red Bull driver to pit for repairs. Unfortunately for Perez, on the entry to the pit lane, he overtook an Aston Martin before the safety car line, prompting an investigation from the stewards.
After conducting their investigation, the stewards decided that Perez’s infringement warranted a five-second time penalty. The 33-year-old was pushing to overtake former team-mate Esteban Ocon for P14 at the time.
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This wasn’t the end of the misery for Perez though. In a desperate attempt to supercharge his recovery through the field, the Mexican driver collided with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
Diving in for a kamikaze move into the hairpin he sent Magnussen spinning around, leaving the Danish driver’s race in ruins and earning himself another time penalty, also to the value of five seconds.
Perez never actually served his second time penalty with the Guadalajara-born driver pitting to retire the car on lap 15 following a dismal afternoon at Suzuka.
With Perez out of the race and team-mate Max Verstappen leading the race comfortably, the Dutchman’s live championship lead was extended to 176 points, putting him in touching distance of his third World Championship.
The Dutchman has been unstoppable all weekend long, topping all three practice sessions before flexing his muscles and beating the rest of the field by over six-tenths of a second in qualifying.
Team principal Christian Horner described Verstappen’s pole lap as “something very special” after Saturday’s session as the two-time world champion returned to form at Suzuka after a difficult outing in Singapore last time out.
