Sergio Perez has been summoned to the FIA stewards for an alleged breach of regulations after slamming race officials for during the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Perez was on the offensive on Sunday after a disappointing qualifying session and he was soon moving through the field up to the podium spots.
The Mexican was involved in a feisty battle with Lando Norris in the final stages of the race for fourth place and they banged wheels, forcing the Briton to go off the track. Both drivers complained about one another on team radio, but the FIA stewards decided Perez was at fault for not giving Norris enough room and handed the Red Bull driver a five-second penalty.
That proved significant in the end as Perez finished second on track, but the penalty meant he missed out on a podium. Perez was furious afterwards, venting his frustration on team radio before exiting his vehicle.
And his comments have got him in trouble with the FIA as Perez took aim at the race stewards for his punishment. He said: “The stewards are a joke, man. I cannot believe it.
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“They have been very bad this year, but this is a joke. That was really a joke.” Perez’s race engineer Hugo Bird agreed with Perez. He said: “I don’t know what they were looking at.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also sided with his driver on team radio, adding: “You don’t deserve a penalty for that. If anything it looked like a racing incident.” But Perez could be in trouble for his comments on radio with the FIA summoning him to the stewards room for an alleged breach of the International Sporting Code.
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Sporting regulations punish any driver for “any misconduct towards licence-holders, officials, officers or member of staff of the staff of the FIA and members of the staff of the organiser or promoter”. The Red Bull star was also critical of the race stewards in the media pen when asked to give his view on the contact with Norris.
He said: “I think the stewards were very poor today in my opinion. We’ve seen a lot worse, we touched tyre to tyre, Lando cut the corner and I still had the penalty.
“You’ve got to remember when you drive from behind you go into the breaks late, you are not in full control of the car. “Lando knew I was there, he decides to turn in, we made contact tyre to tyre as I said. I just feel in my honest opinion, it’s a racing incident.”
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