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Perez sees no solution: 'Something has to be done'
It seems to be an increasingly common problem: tearoffs from drivers' helmets getting stuck in the opponent's car. Sergio Perez also suffered from it in Australia. It greatly affected his speed during the race
A time penalty forced Sergio Perez to start the Australian Grand Prix from sixth place. Driving the fastest car in the field, it was surprising that the Mexican did not manage to gain any places during the race. Afterwards, this turned out to be due to a tearoff that got stuck in his car.
What to do about tearoffs?
This tearoff clearly affected his pace, Perez told Japan. "It obviously affected quite a bit the pace. It had a big impact in our result, probably. Given where I started, with the penalty, P6, and just the gap I had to the leaders, the strategy, and the graining I had on the first stint, probably, I wouldn't have won the race even without the damage."
Several attempts have been made in the past to solve this tearoff problem. Perez himself sees that this is a problem, but does not know a solution to it. "I mean, out of three races, I've had two. So I don't know. There's something with these cars that it's getting a lot more sensitive with that regard. Hard to, you know, we tried in the past to put them in the car. And it's just really hard."