Perez calls for investigation into lack of investigation into Magnussen

Sergio Perez says Red Bull should ask the FIA ​​​​why race control did not consider his accident with Kevin Magnussen on the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix worthy of an investigation.

Magnussen is two penalty points away from an automatic one-race ban and attempted to run alongside Perez on the climb out of Turn 1, but as the barrier followed the curvature of the road he hit Perez’s left-rear wheel, causing a high-speed crash with the Red Bull. Both Haas drivers were thrown out of the race along with Perez – whose car sustained major damage and who admitted he was “a bit wobbly” afterwards – but race control stated that no further investigation was required.

First-lap collisions are often viewed with more leniency than other incidents due to the proximity of other cars – in this case Nico Hülkenberg was to the left of Magnussen – but Perez says he does not understand why there was no penalty for the Dane.

“I am very surprised at the extent of the damage and how dangerous it was,” said Perez. “We have to ask for a reason why the incident was not investigated, because without an investigation we do not know why it was not a penalty.”

“I think I understood that you should let them go on the first lap, but I think that was more dangerous, just going full throttle because you knew that they would make contact at some point. I think that was dangerous driving.”

While Magnussen claimed that Perez had not left him any room, the Red Bull driver said it was the job of the car behind him to avoid him.

“If you see my onboard… you see Kevin’s car, not even close to me, next to me, and you can see that the wall is getting closer and closer and I have to keep going at full throttle… There was only one way out, and that was either contact with my car or with the barrier – there was just no room for both cars.

“And at some point he had to realise that. I’ve been there before and often when you’ve got the car behind you you just have to realise it’s time to back off before things get closer to you.

“I think he clearly shouldn’t be there first because there’s only one way out of there and that’s to hit the wall. Either he’ll hit the wall or he’ll hit my car. So how can he want me to give him space when he’s not even next to him?

“At some point you get to the point where you see the wall coming at you and you just have to back away. That’s happened to me many times and at some point you just have to back away.”

Perez says he is not surprised that Magnussen took such a risk when he was so close to being banned from racing. He doesn’t think the potential consequences occurred to him.

“I don’t think he’s really thinking about it, you know, the outcome. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation and you have to make a very quick decision and say, ‘OK, there’s only one possibility and it’s going to be contact.’ I think we have more important things to focus on. It was a very frustrating weekend. I’m glad the weekend is over and I can’t wait to get to Montreal now.”