Perez advises race management: 'No more driving in these conditions'
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- GPblog.com
After the Australian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez suggested that the race in Melbourne in 2024 should start a little earlier. Because of all the red flags, the race lasted much longer than usual, which meant the sun was already starting to set, obstructing visibility for the drivers, according to the Mexican.
Sun a dangerous factor in Melbourne
Perez spoke of a "dangerous" afternoon at the Albert Park Circuit, as it proved difficult for the F1 drivers to get enough temperature into the tyres on the lap towards the grid for the multiple restarts. "Firstly, we were already struggling to warm up the tyres, and on top of that, we couldn't see anything," Max Verstappen's teammate said when speaking about the second restart. "We shouldn't drive in these conditions anymore. You really don't see anything."
On the restart on lap 57, quite a few drivers missed their braking point. Carlos Sainz spun Fernando Alonso around, Logan Sargeant shunted the back of Nyck de Vries and Pierre Gasly briefly left the track and later hit Esteban Ocon. Perez hopes the race organisers are listening in. "One day soon, a really big accident will happen. You are basically a passenger in the car," after speaking to NU.NL.
Perez himself also shot straight through the gravel pit on the second restart. The 32-year-old driver said he had to avoid Gasly and therefore left the track. In the end, Perez crossed the finish line in fifth place, after race control decided to handle the result based on the order before the restart.