Helmut Marko: The penalty does not affect Sergio’s performance

The Singapore Grand Prix ended with Sergio Perez’s win and Max Verstappen finishing only seventh, and overall the course of events over the weekend did not allow him to win a second title. If the Dutchman succeeded in Red Bull Racing, he would have given himself an unforgettable gift for his 25th birthday, which he celebrated last Friday.

“It was not a holiday weekend,” said Helmut Marko, Motorsport Advisor for Red Bull. – On Friday Max was not happy with the car’s settings and on Saturday a difficult situation arose during qualifying (Max missed the chance to compete for pole position when the team called him to the pits at the end of the last session , because the tank had run out of gasoline).

On Sunday, at the time of the start, a wrong mode was activated on his car, and then he made a brake error (when overtaking Lando Norris). In general, everything was somehow unsuccessful. Max wanted too much, but immediately after the start it became clear that this was not going to work.

Max’ Mexican teammate remained the winner of the race, although he was fined after the finish for breaking the rules to be observed when the safety car is on track. The stewards added five penalty seconds to his result, but Sergio saw the checkered flag more than seven seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc. In the closing laps, the team asked him to add, and Perez succeeded.

However, it also helped that Leclerc, who was actively pushing the race leader up to one point, fell noticeably behind at the end – apparently he just didn’t have the strength to maintain a high pace until the end of the race. .

Just hours after the race ended, however, it was not clear whether Perez would retain the win or not: there was a risk that the results of the grand prix could be revised as the stewards considered two incidents involving him. Yet they limited themselves to one 5-second penalty and a warning. Although there were opinions in the paddock that ten seconds could be added to the Mexican’s result.

“A ten-second penalty would be complete nonsense,” says Marco. – In any case, the penalty does not affect Sergio’s performance and does not affect the situation in the championship. He had a great race, the most important moment of which was the start. He then withstood the pressure from Leclerc and rode confidently.

The race was chaotic, but I wonder if in such difficult conditions it was necessary to apply a rule requiring the driver to follow the safety car at a distance of no more than ten car lengths. Jonathan Wheatley, our team manager, and he is a very experienced person, immediately said that the maximum penalty threatened by Perez was five seconds.