(Motorsport-Total.com) – Sergio Perez lost his first World Championship point for Cadillac after the Monaco race. Although the 36-year-old was classified in tenth place, a 10-second time penalty followed shortly after.
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The reason for this was that Perez had not correctly positioned himself in a starting box at the restart of the race. “Video footage clearly shows that the front right wheel of car number eleven was outside the starting box,” stated the FIA’s reasoning for the judgment.
Accordingly, Fernando Alonso moves from eleventh to tenth place and scores Aston Martin’s first World Championship point of the year.
After the race, Perez was still quite optimistic about the possible penalty: “Based on what I’ve seen, I’m very confident,” said the Cadillac driver. “But in the end, the race stewards decide, so we have to wait and see.”
Even before the potential top-10 finish, Perez had experienced a spectacular Grand Prix. At the start, the former Red Bull driver was in the wrong starting box and was handed a drive-through penalty.
Instead of being in his actual starting position, Perez had gone into Gabriel Bortoleto’s box. Bortoleto had to start the race from the pit lane due to technical problems.
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After an early pit stop, Perez gradually benefited from the chaos in the field. Numerous retirements and two safety car phases propelled the six-time Grand Prix winner forward.
After 78 laps, Perez finished eleventh, but was immediately thrown into the top 10 by a time penalty for Nico Hülkenberg. At this point, however, the investigation into the second starting box infringement was already underway. A warning for ignoring instructions for start practice was also added.
And yet, Perez is more than satisfied after the race. When asked if he had ever expected such a scenario before, the veteran replied: “No, not in my wildest dreams.”
“To be in the points in our sixth race is truly indescribable. As I said, whether I was a millimeter [over the line] or not, no matter what they decide: I think that doesn’t change the fact that we earned it on track, didn’t give up, and gave our best. And the rest will come too, I’m sure.”
In the Constructors’ World Championship, Cadillac is in eleventh and last place after the Monaco weekend. Particularly bitter: If Perez had been classified tenth, Cadillac would have defended tenth place in the championship ahead of Aston Martin. Perez was ultimately classified 15th.
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