Racing Point’s Sergio Perez says the hit from Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon at Turn 1 in F1 Hungarian GP compromised his race in the last few laps.
Perez was the biggest mover in F1 Hungarian GP at Hungaroring when the Mexican climbed up to 11th from 16th at the start of the race. He had the pair of Toro Rosso behind him with Albon ahead of Daniil Kvyat in the fight for the last point position.
The Racing Point driver looked like a net 10th at one stage after getting by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg but towards the end, Albon started to come back in the race. Having lost to teammate Kvyat early in the race, Albon came back on him to take 11th.
He then made a quick work of Perez but in doing so, he touched wheels with the Mexican at Turn 1, which was noted but not action was taken by the stewards. It didn’t look to be a big incident but it was enough to cause suspension damage to the Racing Point car.
In fact, Perez was left to defend hard from Hulkenberg, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, in the end. “I think it was definitely a race of which we can be proud,” said Perez. “We did a fantastic race – a good start, great first lap, very aggressive strategy to undercut two cars and then pushing to the limit all the way through.
“Right at the end Albon came up behind me quickly and we made contact, which damaged my suspension. I was really struggling in the last three or four laps – it was a challenge just to finish in P11. We were expecting a difficult race, but we were in the fight for a point until the very end – unfortunately we just didn’t get it.”
Meanwhile, Albon said: “We had the run on him, and he left a space on the inside, so I went for it, and then he closed the space, but to be honest he still left me enough space. I thought the move was done, and then he turned in on the apex when I was next to him.
“We had a bit of a clatter, but nothing serious. It’s that thing where you come out of the corner and you’re like ‘I hope my steering’s straight’ – and it was, so it was OK.” While Albon had his second consecutive points finish, Perez is yet to score for eight races now.
Here’s how the F1 Hungarian GP panned out
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