Breaking news

Formula 1

Perez hopes Ocon "intelligent enough" to change attitude

Sergio Perez says he hopes teammate Esteban Ocon is "intelligent enough" to understand what he did wrong in their crash in Baku and change his approach to racing.

Jonathan Noble

Edited: Jul 6, 2017, 12:40 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Esteban Ocon, Force India, Sergio Perez, Force India

Esteban Ocon, Force India

Esteban Ocon, Sahara Force India VJM10

Sergio Perez, Force India

Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India VJM10

Sergio Perez, Force India

Esteban Ocon, Sahara Force India VJM10

Esteban Ocon, Force India

Esteban Ocon, Sahara Force India VJM10

The Mexican was battling his teammate for a potential podium spot in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when they came to blows after a safety car restart – with the Turn 2 incident damaging both cars and forcing them into the pits for repairs.

Perez is adamant that the clash was avoidable, but sees no need for his team bosses to step in and dictate new rules of engagements.

Instead, he thinks the only thing that needs to be changed is Ocon's mindset of how he goes racing.

"I think more than a rule book is just making sure that with Esteban we are free to race, but what racing means," said Perez ahead of the Austrian GP.

"If they tell you you are free to race, but you just push your teammate in the wall, then that is not the right way forward.

"I expect him to be intelligent enough to understand what he did wrong and change a bit his attitude for the benefit of the team."

He added: "Simply, Esteban has to understand what racing means. Racing means just racing another car, not crashing into the other car. I think pretty much all the teammates on the grid are free to race and obviously with respect to the other car and to the other rivals.

"In four years with Nico [Hulkenberg] we never had an issue and were free to race. We had big battles on track but we were always free to race. I think as along as Esteban understands what racing means then that should be clear."

Avoidable crash

Perez says that the Baku incident was especially frustrating because he conceded Ocon had already got past him, so there was no need for the Frenchman to squeeze him out.

"The move was already done," he said. "I don't think we can blame the kerb because we were already in a straight line and we touched in a straight line. He was already ahead of me and he just didn't leave enough room. He already did the move.

"There was no need for the contact. I don't think you have to be a genius to understand what happened."

Perez has not spoken to Ocon since the incident, but made it clear how unhappy the team was at the missed opportunity of Baku, especially after the controversy between the pair in Canada when Ocon was unhappy at losing the chance of a podium shot.

"I think what happened in Baku was totally unacceptable from the team point of view," he explained.

"In all my experience I have had with teammates, the competition has been really intense between teammates but never to that extent, never to just unnecessarily crashing into each other.

"I gave enough room for him to do the manoeuvre. He was already ahead, so there was no need to ruin our races. And, at the end of the day, it is the team who paid the price."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article New recruits boost Sauber's technical team

Next article Ocon: Force India agrees Baku clash "not only my fault"

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Jesse Love barely holds off Sam Mayer for NASCAR O'Reilly win at Phoenix

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Phoenix II

1 h

Jesse Love barely holds off Sam Mayer for NASCAR O'Reilly win at Phoenix

Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

4 h

Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team

NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

5 h

NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles

Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

6 h

Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix

Feature

Discover prime content

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Laurent Mekies under the microscope: How different is his leadership at Red Bull from Christian Horner?

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts