09/06/2014
NEWS STORY
Whilst the Montreal Stewards might feel the matter is settled, the two drivers involved in the accident that ended the Canadian Grand Prix continues to see it differently.
Clearly furious that he has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for the forthcoming Austrian Grand Prix, having been adjudged as causing the horrific accident with Felipe Massa which brought out the red flag, this afternoon Sergio Perez took to Twitter.
"They say a picture is worth a thousand words... who crashes into whom?" tweeted his team, following it up with a comment from its Mexican driver who looked destined to leave Canada with a serious points haul.
"I watched several replays of the incident and I can't help but notice how Felipe turns right just before he hits me" says @SChecoPerez, the Silverstone-based outfit tweeted. Adding, "If someone thinks you can keep two Red Bulls behind for as long as we did with so-called 'terminal' problems, they are clearly misguided."
This refers to the claim from Williams that the Mexican had a terminal brake issue. However, whilst Force India admits there was an issue, it insists Perez had been able to do a reset which solved it.
"I spoke to him at the medical centre," said Massa. "I was so disappointed with him. I said he needs to learn. I wanted him to put himself in my place because I had a huge crash. It's not the first time he turned into somebody under braking. He has done this many times but he didn't say anything. He just turned and left."
The Brazilian was also critical of the five-place grid penalty Perez received.
"I hope he learns because we were doing 300 kph at the time. It was dangerous and we could have had a very serious accident, so for me the penalty is not enough. We could have crashed into Vettel."
Indeed, on-board footage from Vettel's car shows just how close he came to being taken out by the Williams as it careered towards the barriers.
Williams Head of Vehicle Performance, Rob Smedley, was equally scathing of the incident dismissing Force India's claims concerning Perez' brakes.
"We showed them evidence from the radio transcript, which I think was around lap 67, where he said 'I've no rear brakes' I think was his comment. They said 'if you can carry on, carry on, and if you can't, pit'. That says to me it's a fairly terminal problem.
"Why you leave a car out when you've that sort of problem is beyond me," he added. "You saw two teams, one of which was ours, knowing when to call it quits."
"With Valtteri we had to tell him to back off saving brakes and saving engine, critically brakes because it can be dangerous. We had to back him off and we had to lose points. That's life."
Chris Balfe