26/11/2023
NEWS STORY
As the FIA develops a possible AI solution to the policing of track limits, Sergio Perez urges the sport's governing body to get on with it.
The Mexican was one of six drivers - including his Red Bull teammate - to have their times deleted over the course of the qualifying session, with Logan Sargeant and Nico Hulkenberg caught out twice.
No sooner had he put his car fifth on the grid than Perez learned that his time of 1:23.868 had been deleted for exceeding the limits at Turn 1 and therefore dropped to ninth.
"It's frustrating, always, especially when it's so close," he said, "but you just have to rely on the stewards.
"I mean, it's what it is now but I really hope that during the winter we are able to find a better solution, for the drivers, but also for the people back at home, because it's confusing for everyone," he added.
"I don't think it looks nice, finishing qualifying and then you have teams that are arguing all afternoon about penalties or not. I feel there's some work ahead of us to try to come up with a better solution for track limits."
His call comes as the FIA reveals that it is working on a possible AI solution to the problem. However, asked if he had a fix the Mexican admitted: "I have no idea. They should be working on a better solution than we have now, and working on the circuits. I think we create these issues for ourselves just with how the circuits are."
Referring to the session, he said: "It wasn't an ideal one. It was a really tricky one actually, and to get that lap time deleted, it hurt.
"We didn't get the cleanest Q3. I ended up making a mistake into Turn 6 which cost me a few tenths, but other than that, at least we were starting P5. But now with the lap deleted, things get a bit harder.
"I think tomorrow is going to be a long race, anything can happen," he sighed. "I think degradation will be one of the main things tomorrow so let's see what we are able to do."
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