Former F1 driver accuses Sergio Perez of intentionally crashing at the end of the F1 Monaco GP qualifying last season

Former F1 driver and presenter Jolyon Palmer feels that Sergio Perez's crash in the 2022 F1 Monaco GP qualifying session was deliberate.

The Mexican was on the provisional pole in the Q3 session when he crashed right before the tunnel section of the track, eventually forcing race control to end the qualifying session with him taking the pole.

The fascinating part was that both Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen were about to clock in their final fast lap and were right behind Perez. Furthermore, the telemetry and data from Checo's car showed a slight throttle spike when he lost control and had the steering on full lock.

When Palmer himself watched the lap with the data he had, he too believed that Sergio Perez crashed on purpose, since almost no F1 driver would think of throttling in that situation.

Speaking on the Monaco GP preview video by F1, he said:

"I think it was [intentional], honestly. And no one really picked it up at the time. Why would he... he was in third, why would he do that? I think he stamps on the throttle with a lot of steering lock and certainly the Verstappen camp within Red Bull were pretty sure that it was deliberate. When I looked into it, I also think it's deliberate."

Palmer later gave several other examples of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg and how there was speculation of them crashing on purpose as well. He also mentioned Charles Leclerc and how he could have deliberately crashed in certain qualifying sessions when he was on the provisional pole.

Though the F1 presenter was not accusing any of these drivers, he did raise the question of whether these crashes were deliberate or not.

"The thing is, you get this quite a bit in Monaco. We have had famous examples of Schumacher back in the day, the Rosberg one where he got away with it. So it's a sort of track where you can have a crash and they look innocent crashes because it is so easy to do."

"Leclerc had one a couple of years ago as well, was that deliberate, didn't look like it. And he did it again in Baku from provisional pole."

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Sergio Perez's father excited to see his son battle Max Verstappen for world championship

Sergio Perez's father Antonio Perez stated that his son and Max Verstappen's title battle in 2023 reminds him of the fight between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost when both were in McLaren. He praised both Sergio Perez and Verstappen, explaining how they are trying to stay ahead of each other in every single session and lap possible.

Perez said, as quoted by Speedweek:

“For me, this is the new edition of Senna and Prost at McLaren. We have two tigers in the same cage. They think alike, they act alike. They try to snatch the point for the fastest lap from each other because every point counts in this World Championship."

"Not only do they chase every pole position but they also want to be one step ahead in every free practice session.”

Max Verstappen currently leads the drivers' championship with 119 points while his Red Bull comrade Sergio Perez is in second place with 105 points.