Pérez 'slept' on the restart after the safety car expired, with four turns to go, and Russell seamlessly completed the overtake. The Mexican explained what happened after the race and blamed the FIA information system
Even apathetic during the whole weekend in Paul Ricard, Sergio Pérez found another culprit for the loss of the podium in the French GP, held this Sunday (24) and won by Max Verstappen. The Mexican driver saw George Russell fighting for third place during most of the race and was almost overtaken at turn 8 on lap 42, but the Mercedes driver - who inexplicably complained a lot after his own maneuver - pushed him off the track when the 'Czech' was still ahead.
But, after Guanyu Zhou's retirement and the subsequent virtual safety-car, there was no way out. Pérez 'slept' on the restart after the safety-car period was over, with four laps to go, and Russell seamlessly completed the overtake. The Mexican explained what happened after the race and blamed the FIA (International Automobile Federation) information system.
During VSC periods, drivers are given a set lap time - they cannot exceed it. The pace difference is measured at regular intervals throughout the lap. When the virtual safety car ends, the drivers plan their restarts to ensure that they lose as little time as possible. To do this, they need precise information about exactly when the VSC period will end. However, Perez said that the information he received from the FIA's systems led him to believe that the safety car would end early.
"It's a shame that the virtual safety-car interfered with the result, to be honest. It shouldn't be the case, but today it was. It's really unfortunate what happened. I got the message that the VSC would end at turn 9, but that didn't happen, and then I got another message - this time that it would end at turn 12," explained 'Czech'.
"I was already very close. It seems that George (Russell) had different information, and was able to prepare better. It was totally a system error, something happened," finished pointing out the Mexican, who acknowledged being underperforming at Le Castellet. "Today, it was not great. I have some things to analyze. I didn't find the comfortable balance for me," he added.
Formula 1 returns next weekend, July 29-31, at the Hungaroring, with the Hungarian GP - which closes the first part of the championship.