28/05/2011
NEWS STORY
Sauber has confirmed that Sergio Perez will not take part in tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix following his heavy accident during qualifying.
While confirming that the Mexican youngster only suffered concussion and a bruised thigh, he will remain in hospital overnight as a precaution. However, the Swiss outfit said that he will definitely not start the race on Sunday.
Until the accident Perez had shown his strongest qualifying performance so far. Having made it through Q1 with ease, he subsequently got through Q2 in ninth on a fresh set of super soft tyres. The accident happened when he was on his final fast lap in Q3 on another fresh set of super soft tyres. He crashed into the barrier in the fast section after the tunnel.
At this time the team has no indication as to whether there was a technical failure, however, it is investigating further to find the exact cause.
"Of course we are very relieved that Sergio wasn't seriously injured," said Peter Sauber. "Up to the accident he was doing very well in qualifying, and also better than expected as he had outperformed all his direct competitors."
"It's always very worrying for a team when you see an accident of that magnitude," added technical director James Key, "so it's good to hear that he is fundamentally okay. We are looking into what happened. There is no indication at the moment from the data we have seen that there was a problem with the car. But we have to talk to Sergio to investigate further what happened."
Amongst Sergio's visitors at the Princess Grace Hospital was FIA president Jean Todt and and FIA medical staff.
To check out our Monaco qualifying gallery, click here.