(Motorsports news) On lap 47 of 58, Perez tried to go inside Norris while braking for the Turns 6-7 chicane in a battle for fourth position. However, it seemed that the Red Bull driver needed two attempts to achieve the apex, and the subsequent adjustment caused Perez to collide with the McLaren MCL60’s front-left wheel. After receiving a five-second penalty for the altercation, Perez fell from second position—where Max Verstappen was leading a team 1-2—to fourth position, ahead of Norris.
Sarcastically, Norris said that Perez’s reaching out was “impressive,” considering that he had given the RB19 driver the position. He remarked, looking back on the convergence: “He was ahead [at the apex].” I attempted to let him go! “The apex was four car widths away from me. Amazingly, he still collided with me. I actually attempted to move aside, but he managed to collide with me.
Perez would ultimately be called before the FIA stewards for calling their ruling a “joke” and citing the referees’ “very bad” performance in 2023. The International Sporting Code was broken by this. With a formal warning and a “genuine apology,” he was allowed to leave. Norris placed fifth at Yas Marina to finish sixth overall, one point behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (second) and rival Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin (seventh).
“Is it in the back of your mind?” Norris asked after missing the fourth shot of the game. Indeed. Would I have cherished taking fourth place? Indeed. However, Charles leaped at me, so there was nothing I could do about it (second-starting). He enjoyed his weekend immensely. It doesn’t bother me too much because if you’re not first, you’re last. It has no effect on anything and has no effect on my mindset.
Norris went on to say that McLaren’s persistent problems with low-speed cornering, coupled with the Pirelli tyres’ propensity for overheating, had left him without race pace, which had prevented him from fighting. “The areas that we were having trouble with were evident, and they were Turns 5, 6, 7, and then just Turns 12, 13, and 14 at very slow speeds,” he stated. Almost every corner, as I say.
Since the weather has been cooler, we were, to be honest, a little bit more expecting. It was evident that we were lacking something. However, I had to exert a lot of effort to keep up with the Mercedes and the Ferrari due to the lack of speed. I immediately wrecked the tires after doing that.
