21/06/2021
NEWS STORY
The Paul Ricard stewards have revealed why they opted to take no further action over Sergio Perez appearing to exceed the track limits as he battled with Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages of French GP.
With just 5 laps remaining, Valtteri Bottas was struggling to hold on to the final podium position, however he was under increasing pressure from Sergio Perez, who was on fresher hard tyres.
Having held off the Mexican in the chicane, as Bottas led the Red Bull into Signes, the Red Bull went wide and over the white line at the exit in the process of passing the Mercedes.
In the Mercedes garage, the team was convinced that the resultant penalty for the transgression would ensure Bottas retained his podium position but it was not to be.
The stewards deemed that Perez had fully completed the pass on Bottas by the time he left the track at Turn 10, which made the fact that he left the track subsequently as a standard "track limits" question.
The Stewards determined that Perez lost sufficient ground in the following turn that he could not be deemed to have "gained a lasting advantage" and consequently opted to take no further action.
"For the first five to ten laps, the car was pretty much undriveable with the wind," admitted the Mexican. "We obviously ran less downforce today so it was pretty hard to keep up.
"But then, probably as the wind was getting calmer and the track was getting better. I started to pick up more rhythm, and we managed to go quite long, on the first stint.
"I think that really paid off towards the end. I think the degradation was quite a lot higher than expected today. I think we did a great race, and a great strategy from the team."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Paul Ricard, here.