Perez penalised for Massa clash, both released from hospital
Sergio Perez has been given a 5-place grid penalty for his coming together with Felipe Massa in the final lap of the Canadian Grand Prix, FIA stewards have announced after the race.
The stewards found that, leading into the first left hander, Sergio Perez moved to the left off of the normal racing line. This was deemed to be the cause of the crash that sent both Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez off the track, violently hitting the tyre walls.
Both men stepped out of their cars themselves but as their crashes hit 27g on impact, they were both sent off to the Sacre Coeur hospital with the medical helicopter, but both have meanwhile been discharged, finding them unhurt.
Even though the stewards have clearly taken the side of Massa, one can wonder how dangerous or strange Perez' move really was. While Perez was struggling with his brakes, a difficulty for Massa to make a good judgement on how to pass, it should also be noted that Sergio Perez repeatedly approached the first corner in a way he did at the time of the accident.
All in all, Perez' move certainly did not appear to be intentional, but instead was likely his own normal racing line, admittedly a rather uncommon one as most drivers usually prefer to keep to the very right of the track before turning into turn 1.
Even though his coming together with Massa was early on after moving away from the right side of the track, it did look like the Mexican was heading for a similar racing line as when Daniel Ricciardo got past him 2 laps earlier. Interestingly, in that event, Ricciardo chose to stick to the far right himself, passing Perez on the right side before turning left into turn 1.
The clash essentially cost both men fourth and fifth place and their teams a lot of work. Fortunately the doctors were not required to do anything.
