(Motorsports news) The Mexican was eliminated on lap 10 of 19 in the Losail circuit sprint race on Saturday, confirming teammate Max Verstappen’s status as a three-time world champion. When Esteban Ocon passed Nico Hulkenberg on the inside, he couldn’t see Perez’s car on the far right and didn’t provide enough space for the Haas.

This resulted in a three-car collision that spit Ocon and Perez into the gravel. No further action was taken against any of the drivers who were investigated. The RB19’s sidepod and floor appeared to be severely damaged and were later determined to be beyond repair, necessitating the creation of a second chassis by Red Bull.

Sergio Perez might be forced to start from the pitlane for the Grand Prix, and a 10-second penalty could be added to his racing time. Perez is now needed to start the race from the pitlane after taking a fifth internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K, as well as a fourth control electronics package as part of the modifications.

Because a pitlane start was formerly the punishment for violating the third-car rules, he will almost certainly have to serve an additional 10-second race time penalty to account for the parc ferme violations. Logan Sargeant set a recent precedent for this in Japan.

Following his Q1 Suzuka crash, Williams also violated the FIA’s two-hour seal restriction by building a chassis beyond the survival cell stage. Williams then replaced the qualifying parts with parts of varying specifications. Sargeant was forced to start the race from the pitlane due to the spec modification.

As a result, the FIA stated: “Because a pit lane start is already imposed for part modification, a further penalty for having a third chassis available was appropriate. The Stewards recommend that this issue gets discussed again in the Sporting Advisory Committee.” Since the pitlane start was already required, Sargeant was also handed a 10s penalty.

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