"What is Checo supposed to do?": Jenson Button has sympathy for Sergio Perez after his first-lap crash at the 2023 F1 Mexican GP

Former F1 world champion Jenson Button recently supported the case of Sergio Perez and explained how the Mexican did not have anywhere else to go in the first corner of the first lap in the 2023 F1 Mexican GP. Checo had a horrendous end to his home Grand Prix after he crashed with Charles Leclerc on the first lap and retired from the race.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Jenson Button revisited the details of the incident and how Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez, and Max Verstappen went into turn one side-by-side. Leclerc had nowhere to go, and Checo misjudged the positioning of both cars on his right, which eventually caused the crash.

He said:

"Three into one through here does not work. Charles had nowhere to go. I think Checo thought he had enough room for Charles on the inside, else he wouldn't have turned in. He didn't want to crash, but he just didn't judge the situation of the two cars inside him.

Furthermore, he explained that Sergio Perez could not have just lifted off and gone behind Leclerc since other cars were coming behind the Red Bull driver as well. It could have created a much more chaotic situation for other drivers had Checo not committed to the corner.

"This is the issue when you have cars that start really well and cars that don't start so well, and the drag is so long to Turn One. What is Checo supposed to do? He couldn't just lift off before the corner and pull in behind because, looking at that [replay], there were cars there. So they would have had the opportunity to drive down the outside of him and cause mayhem."

"So it's tricky, but it's when you get to that point of deciding, 'I'm going to turn in now, but I need to give them room. Maybe I'll just run off track a bit and come back on.'"

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Sergio Perez on his crash at the 2023 F1 Mexican GP

Sergio Perez was heartbroken after he crashed out of the 2023 F1 Mexican GP and was unable to race even for a single lap. After the race, he looked back at the incident and gave his views on it. He said:

"I think simply there was no room for three cars. It was a total racing incident and with hindsight…I shouldn't say that…but in hindsight, I should back off and go home. Especially at your home Grand Prix and two times in a row on the podium. I just wanted to give it all and totally went for it."

Sergio Perez scored no points in Mexico, while Lewis Hamilton bagged second place and scored 18 points. Both are only 20 points apart in the drivers' championship table now.