Sergio Perez has been given a formal warning for calling the stewards “a joke” for penalizing him in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Mexican collided with Lando Norris at Turn 6 and was given a 5s time penalty, with t he stewards deciding that he “dived in late, missed the apex of the corner and understeered towards the outside of the corner.” Perez went on to finish second on the road after Charles Leclerc slowed to let him past, but was demoted to fourth by the penalty and showed his anger on team radio after the checkered flag.
“The stewards are a joke, man,” Perez said. “I cannot believe . They have been very bad this year, but this is a joke. That was really a joke.”
Perez was summoned for his comments as they amounted to misconduct towards officials, with the stewards then giving him a formal warning having acknowledged the conflicting position they found themselves in when ruling on the outburst.
“The stewards explained to the driver that they had no issue with someone disagreeing with their decisions, however comments that amount to personal insults are a breach of the International Sporting Code,” the decision read.
“The stewards note that they are obviously conflicted in this matter as they were the subject of the radio statements and that normally this would be referred to the next panel of stewards, however, as this is the final event of the season, the matter needed to be dealt with here.