Furious Perez annoyed as Magnussen escaped penalty after Monaco crash
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez was left puzzled after the Monaco Grand Prix as his incident with Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap was not even investigated by the stewards.
Following his issues in qualifying, Sergio Perez was meant to start today's Monaco Grand Prix from P18 on the grid. However, he was promoted to P16 due to the disqualification of the Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
The Mexican had an ordinary launch from the line at the start, but he was tagged by Magnussen at the exit of Sainte Devote with the incident sending Perez into the barriers. While he spun around, he clipped the back of Hulkenberg's Haas with all three drivers enduring a horrific crash on the opening lap.
The race was suspended, but, interestingly, the stewards did not even investigate the incident which left Perez puzzled.
“At the start I lost a position to one of the Haas cars and I was coming out of turn one, I couldn’t see Kevin in my mirrors, you can see that from my on board and then the crash happened. I think the move was unnecessary, we sustained a lot of damage and it was a very dangerous incident.
"I was disappointed it didn’t get investigated, it was an immense crash and my car is completely destroyed. I think it was totally unnecessary at that point of the race and where we were starting on the grid, we should have been starting in a better grid position today to avoid this and my Team and I are sorry for it, but, there was no need for that.
"It caused a lot of damage to my car and I am okay after the accident; I just got a small graze to my elbow. Safety in F1 has come a very long way and for that I am grateful. It has been a bad weekend for all of us and the whole thing is frustrating but I trust my Team with my car ahead of Canada and I hope we come back very strong," Perez added.
The most important thing today is that we can all go home. It was a very serious and completely unnecessary accident from my point of view.
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) May 26, 2024
I also hope that every photograph that was in the area is ok.
It's a weekend to learn from and turn around as a team. Preparation for… pic.twitter.com/aeO2dLmYtX
Magnussen delivered a contrasting review of the incident, suggesting that he was alongside Perez's Red Bull when they exited the first corner. The Dane went on to claim that the Mexican was to blame for the incident as he steered his car towards the walls, leaving him no room to escape.
“I was with my front alongside Perez’s rear from the exit of Turn 1, in the run up to Turn 3. He goes towards the wall, the wall comes back a little bit towards the track, and I had nowhere to go. I don’t know if he didn’t see me, but I can’t just disappear out of the blue, so I made contact with the wall and him at the same time, and we crashed.
"It’s frustrating and a crash like this has a big cost for the team in terms of spare parts and making new parts, as well as a lot of work for the team, it’s just never good," concluded the Danish driver.
