Horner names "the only good thing" about Perez's Japanese GP horror show

24 September 2023 , 19:36

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner (Image: Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Red Bull chief Christian Horner says the "only good thing" to come from the Japanese Grand Prix for Sergio Perez is that he was not given a grid penalty for next month's race in Qatar.

Perez was forced to retire from the race in Suzuka after he was involved in two separate collisions and hit with two different time penalties. The incidents occurred in the first 15 laps and Red Bull were able to exploit a loophole in order to ensure Perez was not hit with a grid penalty at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Despite Perez being several laps down when he was handed his second time penalty, Red Bull sent him back out briefly to ensure the penalty was served. Had that not happened, the stewards could have imposed a grid drop at the next race.

But Red Bull were able to avoid that by sending Perez out for a few more laps before he retired for good, with the FIA approving the move ahead of time. "It was a shocker of a race for him today," Horner told Sky Sports F1 when asked about Perez's struggles.

"It got off to a bad start where he sort of got concertinaed on the rundown to Turn 1. He picked up some front wing damage, then we needed to change the front wing. He overtook Fernando [Alonso] on the way into the pit lane, then picked up a penalty and then came out.

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"And then of course he divebombed I think one of the Haases and so it was just one of those weekends. The only good thing was we were able to serve the penalty. He leaves it here in Japan."

Reflecting on the race, Perez admitted: "We had a poor start and everything went downhill from there unfortunately. The collisions caused too much damage so we brought the car in to assess.

Sergio Perez was forced to retire after he was involved in two collisions and received two time penalties (TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP via Getty Images)

"After fixing the car we then had a penalty to serve, which we did, and then brought the car in." Despite Perez's retirement, Red Bull were able to win the constructors' championship after Max Verstappen won his 13th race of the season.

"It's been a massive team effort, there are a lot of people involved in getting us to where we are today," Verstappen said of the team's victory. "You only really see very few people here at track, there are lots of people working tirelessly at the factory to make sure we are always performing at our highest.

"What we are showing this year is pure dominance, we can all be extremely proud. It was an amazing feeling to see the Team celebrating in the garage on the track TVs during my in-lap. We're definitely enjoying it but we won't take anything for granted."

Matthew Cooper