Sergio Perez has been penalised for a Safety Car infringement during today's Singapore Grand Prix but keeps the win.

Initially it was thought the Mexican was under investigation for one infringement but in fact there were two separate incidents.

The first was on Lap 10, when the Mexican admits that while the lights of the safety car were still on, he failed to keep within 10 car lengths of the safety car between the exit of turn 13 and turn 14.

When questioned, Perez said that the conditions were very wet and that it was very difficult to closely follow the safety car with little heat in his tyres and brakes.

Although the track was wet in parts, the stewards did not accept that the conditions were such as to make it impossible or dangerous for the Mexican to have maintained the required gap.

Nevertheless, they took into account the wet conditions and the difficulties highlighted by the Red Bull driver as mitigatory circumstances and accordingly determined that a reprimand ought to be imposed.

On lap 36, and still leading during the second safety car period, Perez once again failed to keep within 10 car lengths of the safety car between turn 13 and turn 14.

This occurred notwithstanding the fact that the Race Director had issued a warning to Red Bull that the Mexican was not respecting the less than 10 car lengths regulation between turns 9 and 10, the warning having been passed on to the driver.

As this was the second breach of Article 55.10 - which requires that the leader must keep within 10 car lengths of the safety car once deployed until the lights are extinguished - and followed an express warning from the Race Director, the stewards deemed to impose a 5 second time penalty on Perez.

With the Mexican having finished 7.595 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc, this means he keeps the win.

In addition to the time penalty, Perez was handed two penalty points bringing his (12 month) total to 2.

"There was a bit of miscommunication with the safety car I think," said Perez, "he was going really fast in places where I couldn't keep up with him and then slowing where I could go fast.

"We were driving on slicks in the wet trying to keep the temperature and that is difficult. When they told me I was under investigation I just pushed like qualifying for 15 laps to get as big a gap as possible to Charles."

The penalty was confirmed almost three hours after the end of the race.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Singapore here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by JamesD, 03/10/2022 20:15

"It's about time Liberty spent some cash and had professional stewards who attend all the races - maybe we would have some consistency then.

Not sure how you get a reprimand and a 5 second penalty for basically the same infringements. Wasn't Lewis given 2 x 5 second penalties at the 2020 Russian GP for essentially the same errors he committed ?"

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2. Posted by Superbird70, 03/10/2022 16:21

"Why are they just not using the timing loops installed around the track for monitoring this?"

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3. Posted by Pavlo, 03/10/2022 10:26

"@kenji - I would gladly accept even no penalty at all with the justification that it’s not a big deal and not really threatening safety. But if given immediately during the race.
What really worth checking is a speed of SC - though Perez complained, again (like in Monza) the rest of the field didn’t catch the SC after the SC. This defeats the whole purpose of the SC."

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4. Posted by TokyoAussie, 03/10/2022 3:41

"Ill wager the stewards were very happy that Perez built a 7-second lead at the end. Now they can give him a 5-second penalty and not change the result. Not entirely sure that is how it is supposed to work, though."

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5. Posted by kenji, 03/10/2022 0:25

"Given the 'damned if you do or damned if you don't' take into account the driver's explanation, it's hard to criticise, especially with so much at stake. The conditions were quite difficult really as witnessed by the rate of attrition and ambient surroundings so the correct decision was made vis a vis the penalties. The ten car lengths rule normally wouldn't be too bad but once again just another rule that needs to be looked at. I would suggest installing a 'laser distance meter' identical to that shown in race graphics and activated automatically whenever the safety car is employed. That would reduce any need for visual approximation by the driver irrespective of the conditions. "

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6. Posted by @R1Racing71, 02/10/2022 21:06

"Sums up this season good and proper.
Roll on 2023 (or more likely 2024)"

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7. Posted by Pavlo, 02/10/2022 20:56

"So disappointing… Resulting penalty would be totally appropriate if announced during the race, but is just a farce after the race. The penalty that is knowingly irrelevant is absolutely unprofessional."

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8. Posted by rambler, 02/10/2022 19:49

"Once again the need for professional trained stewards is highlighted. They were all away eating caviar and drinking champagne when these events happened. After all why rush with a decision, the champers might get warm and go flat."

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9. Posted by Wokingchap, 02/10/2022 19:01

"3 Hours AFTER THE RACE...... ridiculous."

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Perez penalised but keeps win

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