The Red Bull driver Sergio Perez who finishes third in the Qualifying round for the Australian Grand Prix. Perez receives a three-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Hulkenberg during qualifying. Let’s dive and find out the reason behind it.
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Why did Perez receive a penalty?
The Haas driver, Nico Hulkenberg, was on his flying lap in Q1 while the Red Bull driver was on an out lap in Turn 13, which made Hulkenberg slow the car down since Perez was impeding him.
After reviewing the team radio details, the stewards found that Perez did not receive information regarding the Haas driver until it was just a second away from the Red Bull driver, as he did not get enough time to avoid impeding Hulkenberg.
Hulkenberg qualifies for P16 for the Australian Grand Prix. While asked about the incident, the German driver commented saying: “That was the first run, so that was not the deciding lap, but still that wasn’t ideal of him,” he explained.
“But then my second run just wasn’t clean. The lap was looking promising up until Turn 9, or actually from exit of Turn 7, somehow the wind changed and I lost a bunch of lap time on that straight going down to Turn 9, just from a different wind direction.
As a result, Perez dropped from third to sixth place in the Australian Grand Prix. Which promotes the other drivers to one spot above, Lando Norris will start third on the grid, Charles Leclerc will start fourth, and Oscar Piastri will start fifth.
Fiza is a writer at The Sports Orbit, focusing on F1 coverage. She is currently pursuing her master’s in broadcasting journalism and has a profound love for motorsports. She finds F1 to be the most engaging among others due to its adrenaline rush. She got interested in the sport after watching an F1 race with her brother and uncle, and she’s been hooked ever since. Her favorite team is Mercedes and she is a fan of Lewis Hamilton. Besides her dedication to F1, she enjoys activities like reading, practicing her calligraphy skills, and experimenting with cooking.
