Sergio Perez condemns Kevin Magnussen for “dangerous driving” after serious accident at Monaco Grand Prix, with Red Bull driver accusing Dane of being deliberately reckless while racing while Mexican was lucky to climb out of him car wreckage
On the first lap of Monte Carlo, when going up the hill after the first lap, Perez started in 16th place ahead of the two Haas drivers Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, and was beaten by Magnussen. Passing from behind at about 150 mph. The Mexican’s car plowed into the guardrail before ricocheting across the track and into another wall. Both Haas vehicles were recovered and severely damaged in the process.
When Perez came to a stop, all that was left of his car was the driver’s compartment and one wheel, held only by a rope. The rest were scattered on the track by the force of the impact. All three drivers escaped unscathed, which is a huge tribute to the safety standards of F1 cars, but Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, chose not to investigate the incident, leaving Perez furious.
“It’s a more dangerous way to drive, knowing that contact is going to happen at some point, so just keep driving smoothly,” he said. “I think that was dangerous driving. We need to ask why there was no investigation because if there is no investigation we can’t get the reasons why there was no penalty. I’m really surprised.
Romain Grosjean was equally lucky to suffer a more serious crash at Bahrain in 2020 when his car plowed into the barriers and burst into flames. The survival pod, Halo cockpit protection and the marshals saved his life. The incident in Monaco was one of the most serious since, with others including Lando Norris’s crash in qualifying at Spa in 2021 and Zhou Guanyu being vertical at Silverstone in 2022 Enter the incident of catch fencing.
Magnussen, who has been penalized for driving at three consecutive races this season (China Grand Prix, Miami Sprint and Miami Grand Prix), has racked up 10 penalty points and is two short of a ban, insists Perret Si should leave him in space and accuse him of squeezing him against the wall. However Perez rejected this and made a scathing assessment of the Dane’s driving attitude.
“I don’t think he really thought about the consequences,” Perez said. “Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you have to make a quick decision and say: ‘There’s only one way, and that’s contact, so I’d better quit.'” But he will make contact.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also expressed surprise that there was no investigation into the incident, but praised the car for doing a good job of protecting his driver. “It was a horrific-looking accident where your heart was in your throat,” he said. “The structure, the aura, everything played a role. Most importantly, Checo was able to come out of what looked like a very nasty incident unscathed.
