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F1 German Grand Prix: Perez criticises Verstappen defence, ‘inconsistent’ penalties

Sergio Perez has expressed his support for Kimi Raikkonen in his frustration that Max Verstappen was not punished for his staunch defence of fifth place towards the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen hit out at stewards for not investigating whether Verstappen changed his line more than once as he rebuffed the attentions of the Ferrari driver in the final laps, the Finn forced to settle for sixth place having battled his way from 14th on the grid.

The battle has caught the attention of rivals, who feel there needs to be some clarification over what can be permitted, with Perez saying Verstappen's method of changing line under braking is 'not correct'.

"I think that was too much, too much moving under braking and it's something that we need to clarify. We sometimes see drivers over-defending position and it can be quite dangerous if you are moving under braking, just in the last moment."

"It is a bit inconsistent sometimes [stewards ruling], as we know, but as well in the past we have freedom a bit more, the rules, to give more freedom to fight harder the position. But I think moving under braking at the last moment I think was not correct. I think we should talk about it to clarify that."

With the question over defensive driving part of a wider call for clarification from the FIA over yellow flags and also in-race radio communications, Perez admits there are areas that need discussing.

"I think Nico proved that what he did was appropriate but then I think that every driver will have done the same in his position, so that was down to the FIA to see it and if they were fine with it I don't see an issue to go too much into it.

"With Nico for example it was different because he could see that there were yellow flags, he could lift but then come back on power not losing too much lap time because he was on relatively low speed. For example with Lewis the car was stuck there so he had to lift, so it's also a bit of common sense in that respect. If the FIA was fine with that then it's alright."

Zdroj: crash.net