Sergio Perez apologized to his Red Bull team after leaving the Monaco Grand Prix empty-handed.
Last year’s winner started today’s race from last place after crashing in qualifying. He finished 16th after a tight race that included clashes with George RussellLance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen.
“I think we paid the price for my mistake,” he later told the media, including RaceFans. “It was very expensive.”
Max Verstappen the win takes Perez from 14 points clear of the championship to 39 points behind.
“I just have to apologize to my entire team because a mistake like this is unacceptable,” he said. “I just have to move on, learn from it and I can’t afford another championship zero.”
Perez’s race got off to an encouraging start. At the end of the first lap, he pitted for the hard tires and quickly caught up with the rear of the field, allowing him to benefit from pit stops from the front drivers.
“It was going really well,” he said. “Unfortunately, I got into traffic quite early and that pulled us back to our original position.”
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He became entangled with Stroll as he tried to follow his teammate while Verstappen circled the pair. He was forced to make a second pit stop when he ran into Magnussen after the Haas driver skidded on the way to the chicane and slowed down.
“I broke the front wing with Magnussen just braking from the chicane,” said Perez. “It just went wrong. When you are in these positions, you always have to risk a lot.
“I had no idea what was going on,” he added. “But unfortunately I suffered a lot of damage.”
Perez said he should have reacted earlier to the downpour that hit the track late in the race. “Then the rain came, we were one of the last ones to pit,” he said. “And then I trimmed the wall. It was just a mess.
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