Sergio Perez crossed the finish line in third place in the Italian Grand Prix, but the Mexican driver had to settle for ten World Championship points and fifth place. This was due to the five-second time penalty he received from the stewards for an illegal overtaking of Charles Leclerc.
Perez ended up off-track, but managed to pass the Ferrari Monegasque anyway. Red Bull Racing said through Christian Horner that the FIA was asked if Perez could keep his spot or had to give it back. Horner said there was then no response from the FIA. Michael Masi, Formula One's race director, refutes that.
Masi disagrees with Red Bull
Indeed, according to Masi, no contact was ever made by the Austrian formation. "No, that's incorrect. They didn't ask race control. I suggested to them that they may want to look at giving the position back, and they said they were looking at it themselves." However, the incident ended up with the stewards who determined that a time penalty was appropriate.
Valtteri Bottas and Leclerc took advantage and moved up a place in the final results. Perez remains on two podiums for Red Bull. The 31-year-old driver is currently fifth in the World Championship. Third place is not yet completely out of sight. In the remaining Grands Prix this year he must make up 23 points on Bottas.
Read more about:
Today
Rumors
Popular on GPBlog
1
FIA makes changes to controversial rules
1253 times read
2
Would Russell leave Mercedes for this new team?
819 times read
3
Newey admits the 2026 F1 regulations are 'slightly scary' but also calls them 'interesting'
491 times read
4
Norris expects no magic, and hints at bigger issues with the MCL39
467 times read
"The 31-year-old driver is the current number one in the world championship with 118 points" What?! who wrote this article?
Perez is a pay driver who’s slimy attitude lines up perfectly with RB.
??? Horner and Max lying????!!!!
Impossible!??
Horner lying as usual.
What a pathetic little man .....he lies so much that like Trump, he has started to believe his own lies and imagined reality.
F1 is missing Charlie Whiting. The new F1 race director Michael Masi sucks ass bigtime, clearly in the back pocket of Mercedes
No I start to understand why they penalized Verstappen. There's something going on between Masi and Horner. First of all, it's not Masi job to suggest this. It's black or white. Either give place back or not....not this grey talking "I suggest". This is Formula 1, there are rules. Just look at the video and tell how it is. I suggest, lol!
Horner cannot see the video, and Masi doesn't decide, it's the stewards who decide
That's what I write aswell. That it's not Masi job to suggest anything. It's between FIA stewards and RedBull. So it's Masi who is lying. Cause he should not play any part of this. I actually don't think he is tying to lie, he is just no proffessional enough. Even in Spa we saw this many times, when he had no idea what was going on and what should be done.
The race director needs to know his/her job. Tell the team if they need to give a spot back.
The whole idea of waiting for some stewards to think about something then assess a ruling, which never seems to be consistent, is archaic at best.
How can one person, Masi, decide everything, it's not even his job, it's the stewards who decide if there is an infringement or not
"No, that's incorrect. They didn't ask race control. I suggested to them that they may want to look at giving the position back, and they said they were looking at it themselves." Honer lying again, he did with a straight face 3x interviews after the race.
Lol Masi hung him out to dry, too funny.
For me the story isn't Horner lying, it's another half assed, weak response from Masi. He 'suggested'? They 'might'? He's the race director for God's sake. He should grow a pair or hand over to someone who will 'tell' team bosses they 'will'.
Race control does not mandate that, the Stewards do. Masi asked Rebull to consider giving the place back, cause the stewards would look at that harshly.
It's not Masi who decides, it's the race stewards, looks like you missed that bit
If they thought they might have to give the place back, they should of had Perez do it right away so he could overtake him again and not have to worry about it.
Snake Horner... he was too occupied with Max penalty n excuse that he forgot abt Checo
Horner caught lying.
You clearly didn't understand what you just read.