Pérez narrowly avoided a dramatic accident with two marshals!
Only 12th at the finish, Sergio Perez had a real scare when exiting the pits under Safety Car conditions, narrowly avoiding two track marshals who were crossing at the same time!
Rare enough to highlight, Sergio Perez was eliminated as early as Q1 on Saturday, in 17th, just ahead of his garage neighbor, Lance Stroll. The qualifying sessions were not the only ones predicting that the Racing Point weekend would be complicated. Off the pace during practice, the chassis and aerodynamics of the RP19 did not seem suited to the Monaco track.
At the start of the Grand Prix, the Mexican got off to a bad start and was immediately overtaken by Lance Stroll and Kimi Räikkönen. However, Pérez took advantage of the collision between the two to overtake the Alfa Romeo of the Finnish driver. Like many other drivers, Perez stopped on the 10th lap under the safety car to make his first and only tire change.
It was as the Racing Point driver exited the pits that he narrowly avoided disaster by dodging two track marshals who were crossing at that moment. The image, frightening, could have ended much worse without the reflexes of the Mexican driver and the second marshal who stopped his course at the last moment. Without that, this Monaco Grand Prix could have faced a dramatic situation: After this moment, I am very happy with my day, returning home to our families. I hope this won’t happen again for the safety of the marshals posted as a message by the former McLaren driver on his Twitter account after the race.
After this incident, I’m just very happy with the outcome of my day. That we all can go back home safe and sound with our families. For the safety of the marshals I hope it never happens again! 🙏 #MonacoGP #Checo11 pic.twitter.com/PP8Me3Frlz
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) May 26, 2019
The rest of Pérez’s race was more anecdotal, even though a duel with Kevin Magnussen could have ended up in the barriers at the Tunnel exit.
« The race wasn’t easy. We really needed the rain to come and mix things up, but there was only some in a few places. After the safety car came out, I was in heavy traffic and lost quite a bit of time in the congestion. Later in the race, I attacked Magnussen, which seemed fair to me, but he cut the chicane and kept his position. In the end, getting ahead of him might have changed our result… I think he should have immediately given me back the position! »
