Sergio Perez had yet another surprising moment at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend as he crashed his Red Bull during the second practice session. Despite seeing his session end following his crash into the Parabolica corner, he still registered the third-fastest time. While many believed that Perez’s mistake resulted in him crashing, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has accepted the blame for the 33-year-old’s incident.
The Austrian did so despite Perez admitting in an interview that he lost control of the Red Bull. As quoted by bbc.com, the former Racing Point driver said, “I understeered off on the exit and tried to keep it nailed. I thought I had it under control. But then I touched a little bit of the gravel, and that was game over“.
Perez then added that his crash didn’t cause much damage to his Red Bull as the hit was “fairly small“. He then interestingly concluded his remarks by stating that this was the best Friday he has had in a long time despite his crash.
Helmut Marko takes the blame for Sergio Perez crashing
While speaking in his interview after Friday’s practice sessions, Helmut Marko took the blame for Sergio Perez crashing. The Austrian said, “We experimented a bit with the level of downforce. In the long run, we messed up the balance with our new attempt“.
The 80-year-old then added that Perez “slipped into the gravel” because the car oversteered. Marko believes Perez was not at fault for the crash as the “car was difficult to drive” and was also “not in the right balance“.
Helmut Marko says they had been experimenting with the downforce, which led to Checo crashing
“We experimented a bit with the level of downforce, in the long run we messed up the balance with our new attempt.”
“The car was relatively oversteering, which is why Checo slipped… pic.twitter.com/8GN7xKS3gV
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) September 1, 2023
Following Perez’s setback during the second practice session, he will now hope to recover to get back onto the podium this week, having missed out on it at the last race at Zandvoort. As for his teammate, Max Verstappen, the Dutchman will look to script history of his own.
Max Verstappen says he is confident of scripting history at Monza
Max Verstappen is currently on a nine-race winning streak and is tied with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel for the most wins in a row. If the 25-year-old were to win at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, he would become the first F1 driver to register 10 consecutive victories.
When asked if he could get there, Verstappen replied (as quoted by bbc.com), “I’ve no doubt we’ll get there“. If the Dutchman were to win the race, it would be his twelfth victory of the season and Red Bull’s 14th.
