Perez “got maximum” despite car problems
In the round-up: Sergio Perez says he scored the best result possible in the Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday despite his car not being fully sorted after his crash in qualifying.
In brief
Car “not 100%” after crash – Perez
After crashing out in Q1 on Saturday, Perez climbed nine places to finish seventh. He doubts he could have finished any higher under the circumstances. “Today was the maximum we could have done,” he said. “So that’s a positive sign.
“The pace was strong today. We got overtaken by George [Russell] but we managed to beat him with the strategy, with the pace. From that point on I think it was a maximum we could have done.”
Red Bull performed extensive repairs after his heavy impact with the turn eight barrier and Perez isn’t sure his car was performing entirely as it should.
“At the start of the race we were stuck with the traffic, it was really difficult to manage,” he said. “I think the car was not 100% from the crash. So, something to to review.”
Sauber still not quick enough for points
Valtteri Bottas praised Sauber’s progress after his first race in their upgraded car, but says they still aren’t quick enough to challenge for points. He fell from 12th on the grid to finish 16th.
“Initially it felt okay,” he said. “But then, when things started to kind of stabilise a little bit, I figured out we couldn’t keep up with the pace of the RBs. We left the [pit] stop quite late to try to have a tyre advantage but as always here, it’s not easy to make progress even with a fresher tyre.
“If I compare to the last events, it seems like the pace is a bit better, but still not quite enough to get in the top 10 on merit. At the moment we still need kind of a miracle to happen to get in the top ten. So, we just need to keep progressing.”
Tsunoda thanks mechanics for repairs
Yuki Tsunoda paid tribute to his mechanics after taking his repaired car to ninth place.
“I’m definitely very happy with my race and obviously first of all big the credit to the team and mechanics who repaired very fast and precisely overnight,” said Tsunoda. “Without that, I wouldn’t be here.”
Penalty hands Jaguar title
The Formula E manufacturers’ title changed hands after the chequered flag dropped on the season finale yesterday. Porsche originally took the title but Antonio Felix da Costa was given a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Nick Cassiy, dropping him from fifth to a point-less 13th. Jaguar therefore beat them to the title by four points.
Van Hoepen disqualified
Laurens Van Hoepen was stripped of his second place finish in Sunday’s Formula E feature race after his car was found to be four kilograms under the weight limit. His team blamed damage to his cooling system.
“The team representative explained that they have conducted a preliminary investigation into the cause of being below the minimum weight and found [the car’s] water pressure dropped significantly after the safety car period during the feature race,” the stewards reported. “The team justified that a loss of liquid from the car’s cooling system is or may be the cause attributing to being below the minimum weight. The stewards thanked the team representative for bringing forward this explanation and justification.
“The steward reminded the team representative of the International Court of Appeal’s (ICA) long-standing and consistent jurisprudence that the obligation to comply with the technical regulations and the liability incurred as a result of noncompliance lie solely with competitors. Furthermore, the Stewards also explained that the long-standing sanction and ICA jurisprudence for a technical compliance has been a sanction of disqualification.”
Van Hoepen’s disqualification promoted Noel Leon to second place and championship contender Leonardo Fornaroli to third. Mari Boya inherited the final point for 10th.
Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Thankful for the Aero screen or else I wouldn’t be writing this right now. Sorry to my team and all involved by no fault of their own. As for the incident… maybe next time at least throw a local yellow when a car is in the most dangerous spot possible @IndyCar ? Just a thought pic.twitter.com/KGQIEkvsQP
— Pato O’Ward (@PatricioOWard) July 21, 2024
Today will be the first race @MarioAndretti and I watch together. That’s wild!
— Marco Andretti (@MarcoAndretti) July 21, 2024
Wins in 2024 so far:@Max33Verstappen: 7@LewisHamilton, @LandoNorris, @GeorgeRussell63, @Charles_Leclerc, @Carlossainz55 and @OscarPiastri: 6 #F1 #HungarianGP #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/0QQPoBr02q
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) July 21, 2024
In the last two races Alpine have shown no pace, committed tactical errors in qualifying and the race and had two technical retirements compared to one for all of their rivals put together.
Not the most compelling pitch for @Carlossainz55‘s services.#F1 #HungarianGP #RaceFans
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) July 21, 2024
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