Perez blasts FIA over 'joke' track limit policing

Sergio Perez has taken issue with the FIA, labelling their policing of track limits as “a joke” in the Qatar Grand Prix.

Perez was hit with three five-second time penalties for breaching track limits during the race, as was Alpine's Pierre Gasly.

On his second offence, Red Bull issued a plea to Perez as the team asserted that the penalties were “hurting our race”.

Perez was eventually classified in 10th place to take a solitary point from the event after starting from the pit lane, having changed components on his car overnight following his crash in the sprint.

“One point in the end, too many penalties,” Perez told media including RacingNews365 of his race.

“It was a long afternoon for me, I think starting with the Hard, especially with the Safety Car that we had in the beginning, it just hurt us quite a bit.”

Perez's complaints

During the race weekend, the FIA narrowed the track at Turns 12 and 13, painting the circuit to redefine track limits.

It was a decision taken as a result of the tyres sustaining damage across the circuit's 'pyramid' kerbs during Friday running.

Perez says that the newly defined track limits were hard to judge and believes that the FIA was too strict with its punishments.

“It was impossible to see,” he said. “I was taking so much margin, giving up so much lap time for it.

“For me, it was very difficult to judge. But there were divers who were able to do it so I don't think I did a good enough job in that regard.

“But I think also, it was a joke, what we end up doing with track limits.

“First of all, I think it's really bad that we came up with a solution last minute and then to police it that badly and start giving penalties away.”