Ferrari F1 team principal Mattia Binotto believes Sergio Perez could face two penalties if he fails to stay within 10 cars of the safety car at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Race winner Sergio Perez is facing an investigation by FIA stewards for failing to adhere to the rule of keeping no more than 10 cars away from the safety car when racing resumes.
Ferrari F1 team principal Mattia Binotto has said his team is “interested” in an investigation because it feels Perez may have broken the rules twice.
Mattia Binotto, who noted that Antonio Giovinazzi had received a similar penalty, said that he wanted a penalty that would give Charles Leclerc the victory but that he would wait for the results of the investigation before deciding on the incident.
Sergio Pérez won the race by 7.595 seconds over Charles Leclerc, but Leclerc would have won if a total penalty of 10 seconds had been awarded.
“We have to wait for the stewards’ decision at 23:55pm. Very interesting. There were two infractions behind the safety car, so it could be two penalties. But they are the only ones you can trust in what that the decision will be,” Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports F1.
“We believe it’s a violation. I believe the last time it happened was Giovinazzi in 2020. It was a five-second penalty (Giovinazzi was too close to the crane behind the safety car at Grand Prix Singapore 2019. I got 10 seconds). Penalty as a result.”
“Again we won’t be there and we won’t take part in the summons, so it’s hard to judge. So we’ll wait, but hopefully we can change the final result today.”
Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner feels the situation has eased as the F1 cars are spaced further apart in an attempt to maintain tire temperature and does not believe Sergio Perez will take a penalty that is not by him.
“They listen to it, but I think there’s a lot of precedent that we’ve seen. Even in the recent past, where the accordion effect has happened up and down the pitch, we’ve see it. You see it. on the formation lap,” said Christian Horner.
“Again, what alleviated the problem was that the safety car was going very slowly. They spent about 30 laps on the tyres, but they were all on slicks.
“They were the first to go in front of him and I could hear Czech shouting that he had to hurry. He didn’t feel the temperature in his tyres. Anything would definitely surprise him.”
Earlier in the season, Sebastian Vettel faced an investigation for the same offense at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, avoiding a penalty.
Category: F1 / Ferrari / red bull / F1 Singapore Grand Prix / Sergio Perez
