13/07/2022
NEWS STORY
"This was just unnecessary," says Helmut Marko, following Sergio Perez' move on George Russell in Sunday's Grand Prix.
"We're sick of saying it, and you no doubt of reading it, but the race cannot be won at the first corner, or Turn 3 or even Turn 4, but it can be lost," we opined in the intro to out race report on Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.
Sure enough, having made it through the first three corners almost intact, it was at Turn 4 that the red mist finally descended, with Perez attempting to go around the outside of George Russell, only for the Mercedes to tag the Red Bull sending it spinning off into the gravel.
Though Perez was able to continue, his race was essentially done and on lap 24 his team decided to call it a day, opting to save the mileage on his engine.
While the stewards handed Russell a 5s penalty for causing a collision, opinion remains divided, however, Helmut Marko is in no doubt, it wasn't a risk worth taking.
"We said before the start, do not go around the outside in that corner," he told Sky Sports Germany. "That is not possible.
"This was just unnecessary," he added. "We've seen it before. It doesn't work.
"After that, there was a lot of damage to the floor. He might have finished two laps behind, so it didn't make sense to continue. It was better to save the mileage."
The Mexican clearly hadn't learned his lesson, for last year he made a similar move on Lando Norris and once again ended up in the gravel, while in 2020 Alex Albon came off worse whilst trying to pass Lewis Hamilton.
"I don't think Mercedes like it when our cars go around the outside in Turn 4," said Marko. "It was a shame, because you saw that Checo was ahead.
"It's almost a perfect imitation of the incident with Lewis and Albon a few years ago," he added. "It's a shame we didn't get more space there."