Source: REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier
[Saba Sports News] At the Canadian F1 Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing made a controversial decision to bring Sergio Perez back to the pits with a damaged car in order to maintain Max Verstappen’s lead. With 19 laps remaining in the race, Perez had a crash, losing control of his car and hitting the guardrail, resulting in damage to the rear wing and scattering debris. Despite this, Perez didn’t immediately stop his car at the side of the track to retire. The team instructed him to drive back to the pits and retire from there. The key difference is that the former scenario would have triggered the deployment of the safety car. The stewards expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision and fined Red Bull Racing £21,000, while Perez received a three-place grid penalty for the next race. After the race, F1 commentator Will Buxton voiced his discontent, stating that the penalty imposed by the FIA was not severe enough. He compared the incident to the infamous “Crash Gate” scandal that occurred during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in which Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. was accused of intentionally crashing to aid teammate Fernando Alonso’s victory. Buxton claimed that Red Bull Racing admitted to instructing Perez to deliberately break the rules, potentially compromising the safety of other drivers. Buxton’s comments resonated with a majority of fans, who condemned the actions of the Red Bull Racing team. Due to the significant impact of the incident, Buxton’s tweet has been deleted from his Twitter account.