Christian Horner refuses to blame Sergio Perez for Turn One crash with Charles Leclerc at Mexican GP

Perez determination to win the race forced him to over commit and make the mistake.

Christian Horner refuses to blame Sergio Perez for Turn One crash with Charles Leclerc at Mexican GP

Christian Horner and Sergio Perez (via IMAGO)

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner doesn’t believe it was his driver Sergio Perez‘s mistake into the first corner of the Mexican GP. According to Horner, the move of turn 1 was just a result of the immense confidence he gained after a good start after lights out. He believes trying to take the race’s lead into turn one is no one’s fault. He was also visibly seen to be sad after Perez’s retirement. 

After having a great start at lights out, Perez’s run from the grid to the first corner was fast enough to be ahead of both Ferraris and the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo. Before moving into turn 1, the Mexican found himself three wide. The sandwiched Leclerc, on the verge of losing his pole position, had nowhere else to go, with Max Verstappen on his right and Perez on his left. As Perez moved into the corner, he banged the wheel with the Ferrari, which pitched him in the air and damaged the car’s floor upon landing.

YouTube video

While discussing the incident, Horner pointed out that he was gutted to see it and admitted that the Mexican couldn’t be blamed. Horner was also not found to blame Leclerc as he said that the replays show that the Monegasque was in the middle of a Red Bull sandwich. He also opened up about his conversation with Perez on the pit wall. Perez is now only 20 points behind the Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, trying to defend his P2 in Drivers Standings.

I’m absolutely gutted to see Checo go out on the first corner. And you can’t blame him, trying to take the lead of the Grand Prix. I think you’d have to call it a racing incident because three into one doesn’t go...It’s a tough moment for him. It’s in front of his home crowd, and he was very emotional, and I just said to him, ‘The next race is next week.’

Horner said, as reported by Motorsport.com

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen would’ve been allowed to race at the Mexican GP

Following Perez’s early retirement from his home Grand Prix, team boss Horner shared his idea of letting the Red Bulls fight each other for the win. As we know, this wouldn’t have been possible as Perez failed to even make it past the first corner with a proper race car.

Christian Horner (via Twitter / RBR)

In his same interview, he emphasized Perez’s pace this weekend, which could have resulted in an easy podium and even a home race win:

It would have been a straight fight between the two of them. So it could have been an interesting afternoon.

Although Perez’s headache doesn’t seem to end right here as now his P2 rival Hamilton is chasing him down, as he scored a podium at the Mexico City GP, the limelight now moves to Brazil, which is known to be a Mercedes-dominant track where the Perez might need to step up his game.

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