“Stressful”: Perez and Piastri vexed by stewards’ U-turns over deleted lap times

Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri said their qualifying performances were compromised by the stewards deleting their lap times, then reinstating them.

Both drivers were told one of their lap times had been deleted during the session because they had run wide at turn one. However in both cases the stewards then changed their minds and allowed the laps to stand.

Perez’s incident occured after his first flying lap in Q1. The stewards took seven minutes to reverse their decision to delete his lap time, by which point Perez had returned to the track on a fresh set of tyres in a bid to ensure he reached Q2.

He said afterwards that compromised his performance in the rest of the session as it meant he used a set of fresh tyres earlier than he needed to.

“Going into Q3 with a single new set of tyres cost us,” said the Red Bull driver. “We lost a set in Q1 when they took my first lap away and then told us too late it was reinstated, when I was already out on a new tyre. It was unfortunate and compromised that session.”

Piastri’s first flying lap was deleted in Q3, but three minutes later the stewards changed their minds again. He said that “didn’t help” his preparation for his final run.

“I knew starting the lap, or even leaving the pits, that lap was at least on the board again. But I knew that I would need more to keep at least that position, or obviously I want to go for pole. So I knew I needed more anyway.

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“I found a bit more, just not quite enough. So it was a slightly stressful few minutes. I didn’t really dwell on it too much but I did think I was in. Clearly it was so close that they’ve probably given me the benefit of the doubt, but it wasn’t exactly ideal.”

The McLaren driver said he backed off too much for the first corner on his final attempt.

“I didn’t have to take more margin, but I did by accident. I lost a decent amount of time through turn one, which was a shame.

“I obviously had in mind that even though the lap got given back, I knew it was incredibly close. But I probably gave a little bit more margin than I wanted to. So that was a bit of a shame.

“I think if it hadn’t have been taken away, then given back, maybe I would have been a little bit more aggressive through there. But that’s how it is, it’s the same rules for everybody. So I’ll just take P2.”

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