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Horner about Perez in Japan: time penalty trick was "the only good thing"
- Sam Godber
Christian Horner was not happy with Sergio Perez 's inferior performance at the Japanese Grand Prix. Yet the Red Bull team boss sees one bright spot.
Mexican Red Bull driver Sergio Perez did not have a good weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix. Max Verstappen 's teammate qualified fifth, behind both McLarens and behind Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. During the race on Sunday, things went all wrong for the Mexican. He was involved in several incidents, colliding with Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen.
After an extra pit stop, the team decided enough was enough, and brought Perez in. But this was followed by a bizarre situation: Red Bull sent Perez, who had already climbed out of the car, back onto the track so that he could serve an outstanding time penalty. This allowed Red Bull to avoid pushing this penalty to the next Grand Prix in Qatar.
Bright spot
Horner revealed to Sky Sports that this trick was the only bright spot of Perez's difficult race in Japan: "The only good thing was that we were able to serve the time penalty." Furthermore, Horner did not spare his second driver: "It was a shocker of a race for him today." Horner then listed all the incidents Perez was involved in, ending his story with: "And then of course he divebombed I think one of the Haases and so it was just one of those weekends. The only good thing was we were able to serve the penalty. He leaves it here in Japan." Perez admitted that it was a difficult race for him: ""We had a poor start and everything went downhill from there unfortunately."
Peres is currently second in the Formula One World Championship standings. The Mexican driver has 223 points and two wins to his name. Max Verstappen, of course, is in first place with 400 points and Lewis Hamilton is third with 190.
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