259-race driver admits he didn’t follow his team’s advice in Saudi GP

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Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has accepted responsibility for his unsafe release during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Perez, who finished second behind teammate Max Verstappen, received a five-second penalty for the incident.

And he admits it was mistake, rather than an error on the team’s part.

Perez was one of 14 drivers to enter a frantic pitlane when Lance Stroll’s crash brought out an early safety car.

He came in immediately after Verstappen as Red Bull stacked their cars for strategic reasons.

However, he cut off the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso when he rejoined the fast lane, forcing the Spaniard to brake.

Perez’s subsequent penalty didn’t cost him any positions in the end as the 259-race veteran came across the line 10 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.

Sergio Perez takes blame for Fernando Alonso incident

Speaking in the post-race press conference, Perez revealed that his team had told him to exercise caution when exiting the pit box.

He says he couldn’t see Alonso when he pulled away, but conceded that he deserved to be penalised.

“We were compromised with such an early Safety Car, and that meant that basically everyone just pitted,” he said.

“And when I was going out, it was actually my mistake, because I was told by the team to hold it back.

“But in hindsight, I looked on the right and there was nobody there when I looked.

“But in hindsight, I think the penalty was correct and that pretty much compromised our race.”

Perez delivers solid result to respond to early critics

While Perez felt ‘compromised’ after the penalty, it didn’t appear to overly impact his evening.

It was a solid performance from the 34-year-old, who’s bidding to keep his drive with the world champions ahead of the expiry of his contract.

Perez has already faced criticism this year, with BBC F1’s Harry Benjamin arguing that he was in ‘worrying territory’ after the Bahrain Grand Prix, when he finished more than 22 seconds behind Verstappen.

Colleague Andrew Benson subsequently wrote that he was on the end of a ‘humiliation’ by his teammate in Friday’s qualifying session.

Verstappen outpaced Perez by more than three tenths, with the Ferrari of Leclerc sneaking onto the front row ahead of him.

However, the former Sauber driver will head to Australia second in the championship on 36 points, eight ahead of Leclerc.