“We’ve got more important things to focus on" - Sergio Perez insists Red Bull will not appeal the stewards’ decision to not penalize Kevin Magnussen

Sergio Perez stated that Red Bull Racing will not appeal the decision on the Kevin Magnussen incident that retired him from the 2024 Monaco GP. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda after the race, the Mexican driver was nevertheless surprised the incident was not investigated.

In lap one of the race, Kevin Magnussen clipped Sergio Perez while going into the Massinet section of the circuit. The incident resulted in the Red Bull Racing driver losing control of his car and spinning into both the Dane and his teammate Nico Hulkenberg. Since it was a first lap incident and retired all three drivers, it was reviewed differently by the stewards where it was not investigated.

Reacting to the judgement from the stewards, Sergio Perez was surprised it was not investigated given the damage to his car. Magnussen has inched closer to a race ban collecting 10 penalty points in a period of less than 12 months. Being involved in an incident was enough to earn him a race ban. Nonetheless, the 34-year-old driver said that the Milton Keynes had more important things to handle than appealing the FIA decision.

Asked by Sportskeeda if Red Bull Racing planned to appeal the decision or have a Right of Review, Sergio Perez said:

“I think it doesn’t. We've got more important things to focus on. It's been a very frustrating weekend, we are super frustrated. I’m happy that the weekend is over and I can't wait to get back to Montreal now.”

Asked about his views on the decision by officials to not investigate the incident, he said:

“I'm really surprised. I think I get the 'lap one, let them race', but I think this was more dangerous driving just to keep it flat out, knowing that they were going to come contact at some point. I think that was some dangerous driving."

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Sergio Perez believes Kevin Magnussen does not fear a race ban while taking risks

Sergio Perez feels Kevin Magnussen does not anticipate the damage or risk involved while overtaking. Explaining the incident to media including Sportskeeda, the Red Bull Racing driver said that at some tracks, the Haas driver needs to understand situations where he is to back out. Perez reckons diving in on the outside was going to lead to two guaranteed outcomes for Magnussen - hitting a car or hitting the wall. But he feels that the Haas driver did not care about a race ban.

Coming out of the race, Magnussen defended himself stating he left enough room for the Mexican driver. In response to that, Sergio Perez said that the Haas had to be alongside him to start with, to seek to leave any room. From onboard cameras it appears that the Mexican drive already had Nico Hulkenberg alongside him and there was no room for a third, so contact was going to be inevitable.

Asked if he was surprised that Magnussen took such a risk despite being close to a race ban, Sergio Perez said:

“I dont really think he thinks about it, about the outcome. You are sometimes find yourself own a position and you have to take a very quick decision and say, ‘Yes ok, there’s only one out of here and there’s going to be contact, so I better back out.’ He will go for the contact.”

Asked if Magnusesen’s claim of not leaving room was justified, Perez said:

“I think really clearly he shouldn’t be there in the first place, because there’s just one way to get out of that, to hit the wall here or to hit my car, the right-hand tire of my car. So how does he want me to leave him room if he’s not even alongside. Theres a point where you just see the walls coming to you and you just have to back off. This has happened to me many times and there’s a point where you just have to back off.”

Explaining the incident further, he added:

“If you see my onboard, at no point you see Kevin's car not even close to me, alongside me, and you could see that the wall is just getting closer and closer and to keep it flat out there was only one way out of it, you know, and it was either contact with my car, (or) with the barrier. There were just simply no room for both cars.

And at some point he had to realise that, you know. I've been in that location and many times when you are the car behind, you just have to realise that it's time to back off, you know, before things get closer to you.”

Sergio Perez believes Kevin Magnussen should have realised when to back off rather than risking a manoeuvre that retired three cars including his teammates. The former Force India driver had started eighteenth on the grid and the two Haas drivers and Alfa Romeo drivers behind him.

The damage to the car was extensive and the retirement added to what was already a frustrating weekend for him. He has now been overtaken by Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz in the championship standings.