Sergio Perez has been under a lot of fire after he made contact with four drivers in the recently concluded Japanese Grand Prix. In doing so, he received two-time penalties and four penalty points. Now, fellow F1 driver Alex Albon believes the punishment for such an incident should be stricter, as per a recent report by Autosport.
The 2023 Japanese GP was arguably Perez’s worst race of the 2023 season. The Mexican driver made contact with four drivers, namely Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, and in the end, Kevin Magnussen.
Saturday wasn’t our best, but tomorrow’s what counts. We’ll fight to be on the podium 💪
No fue un gran Sábado, pero mañana es lo importante. Pelearemos por estar en el podium 💪#SP11 pic.twitter.com/gkuNE2kKH1
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) September 23, 2023
His own race was affected by damage and penalties, but he was also a nuisance on track for the others. However, the most astonishing and surprising talking point was his double DNF which Red Bull pulled off him to save him for a grid penalty in Qatar.
Albon wants stricter punishment for Sergio Perez-like incidents
Albon has shared his take on the time penalty that the FIA puts on the drivers. The Thai-British driver, however, believes that they are not enough as the drivers tend not to respect them. This is because, more often than not, the bigger teams don’t really get affected by said penalties.
Speaking about it, the Williams driver said as per Autosport, “In Turn 11 [of Suzuka] he did the same move again to me on track today [last Sunday]. I avoided it. And then he did it again to Kevin. I was behind him, so I had the best view of everyone.”
“So clearly it’s not really teaching the drivers anything, because the penalties aren’t strict enough,” further added the former Red Bull star. Notably, Perez received two penalties for four contacts and four penalty points for his on-track actions which also irked Helmut Marko.
How did Alex Albon perform in Japan and throughout 2023?
The 2023 Japanese GP wasn’t a race that Alex Albon would want to remember for long. The Williams driver’s race came to an end in Lap 26 as he had to retire due to damages. This meant that Williams had two DNFs in Japan.
After Albon collided with Valtteri Bottas right at the start, it was impossible for him to get going from there. Nevertheless, keeping this race aside, the entire season has been sparky for the 27-year-old.
Albon is the sole point scorer of Williams having picked up 21 points after 16 races. He stands in P13 of the driver’s championship and amassed more points than Haas, Alfa Romeo, and AlphaTauri.
