Jolyon Palmer claims 33-year-old F1 driver ‘guilty of not defending’ in Las Vegas GP

Follow us on Google Discover

Jolyon Palmer has now claimed that Sergio Perez was ‘guilty of not defending’ during
the Red Bull driver’s fight with Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc over P2 at the Las Vegas GP.

Strategy, a VSC and two full safety car periods brought Perez into the fight for the win on the streets of Sin City last weekend. Red Bull pitted the 33-year-old early on as he needed a new front wing. Perez suffered damage after driving into the back of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.

The Mexican could not avoid Bottas at Turn 1 on the opening lap as the Finn sought to avoid Fernando Alonso after the Aston Martin driver’s spin. It left Perez running down in P17 after his pit stop. But the second safety car of the Las Vegas GP put him in contention for the win.

Leclerc caught Perez by surprise to steal P2 at the Las Vegas GP

Max Verstappen, ultimately, made light work of overtaking Perez before passing Leclerc for the lead of the Las Vegas GP. The Dutchman utilised his slimmer rear wing to breeze past his Red Bull teammate, who had more downforce but would only qualify in P12 and start in P11.

Perez had spurned a chance to lead the Las Vegas GP by allowing Leclerc to dive back into P1. The Ferrari driver pulled off a late move on the Mexican into T14 on the 35th tour of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Leclerc then hung on in P3 once both Red Bull drivers edged in front.

Yet Perez did not seem to learn his lesson from Leclerc’s dive on Lap 35 of the Las Vegas GP. He left the inside line wide open into Turn 14 once again on the final lap of the race with the Monegasque further behind. But Leclerc timed his move to perfection to steal second place.

Palmer accuses the Red Bull driver of ‘not defending’ from the Ferrari star

Leclerc used every inch of the slipstream and DRS tucked in behind Perez’s Red Bull before launching his Ferrari into the corner. The move clearly caught Perez by surprise as he turned into the corner before seeing Leclerc. And Palmer feels Perez could have avoided the pass.

The ex-Renault F1 driver believes Perez could have kept Leclerc behind if he positioned his Red Bull better. Palmer is also certain that the Mexican would have left Sin City feeling down having also lost P3 at the Sao Paulo GP the week before to Alonso on the last lap of the race.

Palmer told the official F1 website: “Checo will be feeling frustrated, I’m sure, at having been passed on the final lap for the second race in a row. In Brazil, he was guilty of over-defending against Alonso, thus giving the Spaniard a chance to fight back and re-pass him.

“In Vegas, he was probably guilty of not defending at all. Had he covered the middle of the road even, it may have been enough to deter Leclerc from his ballsy lunge.

“However, Checo clearly didn’t think Charles could attempt the move from that far back and left the door wide open, inviting him to try. It was a spectacular ending to a brilliant battle.”