Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez was surprised that race director Charlie Whiting did not ask Haas’ Kevin Magnussen to give back the place to the Mexican after the Dane cut across the track multiple times in Italian GP.
Perez was right behind Magnussen after the opening lap when the safety car was deployed for the incident involving Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley. The duo were at it on re-start through Turn 1 to Curva Grande and the Lesmo when the made contact.
The Mexican was on the inside of the Dane as their cars brushed with both shedding body parts on the track. Perez stayed in front with the damage as Magnussen was forced to pit due to his damage.
It pretty much sealed Magnussen’s race as he switched to the medium tyres for the rest of the race to eventually finish 17th on the road while Perez fought his way through to be eighth – both gained a place to be 16th and seventh after Romain Grosjean’s DQ.
What surprised Perez was lack of directive from Whiting for Magnussen who according to the Mexican had cut across few corners to stay ahead of him. “I think he didn’t leave enough room, he put me in the inside,” said Perez.
“First of all, he cut the corner twice [before]. Twice I overtook him and he went straight, I don’t know why Charlie didn’t ask him to give me back the position and then into the first Lesmo, there simply wasn’t enough room for both cars to do the corner.
“Especially with the angle in my car, I was so much on the inside. It was unavoidable to make contact. It did definitely hurt me a lot with my balance with understeer – it damaged my car, my endplate, my sidepod. As always, those incidents should be avoided.
“Overall, I am pleased with the result. It was a hell of a race and as expected really. I had to open my way through. The contact with Magnussen hampered the car but still the pace was very strong.
“A couple of laps more, I could have overtaken Esteban [Ocon] and Grosjean, so all in all we minimised the damage from qualifying and had good pace, so happy with that.” His teammate finished sixth eventually.
The Frenchman thought sixth was good as he felt quicker than Grosjean even though in the race though he didn’t get to pass his countryman. Force India has 32 points in just the two races to go past of Toro Rosso in seventh position.