Jolyon Palmer lays into Sergio Perez with scathing Suzuka column

Ex-F1 racer Jolyon Palmer blasted Sergio Perez for an “utterly hopeless” move on Kevin Magnussen, claiming the Red Bull driver seems to have “forgotten his racecraft”.

Perez’s visit to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix was nothing short of a disaster for the Mexican, a race where even retiring the car did not bring an end to his dramas.

First-lap contact with Lewis Hamilton prompted a front wing change, which was followed by Perez overtaking behind the Safety Car as he entered the pits, and later a collision with Haas’ Magnussen as he made a lunge at the Hairpin, Perez picking up a pair of five-second time penalties and four points for his superlicence.

Jolyon Palmer questions disappearance of Sergio Perez racecraft

Perez had actually retired from the race when news came through of his five-second penalty for causing the Magnussen shunt, meaning Red Bull sent him back out just to serve the penalty in the pits, thus avoiding it carrying over to Qatar.

And former Renault driver Palmer had few positives to offer a driver who normally excels in race conditions.

“Clearly Checo isn’t enjoying the characteristics of the Red Bull RB19 as much as his team mate [Max Verstappen] – a problem that appears to be worsening for the Mexican after his strong start to 2023,” Palmer wrote in his piece for the Formula 1 website.

“The qualifying pace of Checo hasn’t been near Max’s level during their time at Red Bull. It’s a tough benchmark for the Mexican driver and we are used to seeing significant differences between the two over one lap.

“What Perez has been doing well though is playing it smart in race conditions and making sensible recoveries with a fast car, using some of his typically excellent racecraft.

“We’ve seen the best of Perez in wheel-to-wheel fighting, whether it was helping out his team-mate in 2021 in battles with Hamilton, winning his first Grand Prix from the back of the field in Sakhir back in 2020, or even charging back for some results in races this season, such as at Melbourne.

“Right now though we’ve had a couple of races where his race craft has gone completely absent and it’s causing a stir.

PlanetF1.com recommends

F1 2023: Head-to-head qualifying and race stats between team-mates

F1 points all-time rankings: Where do Hamilton, Verstappen and Alonso feature?

“In Singapore, Perez knocked Yuki Tsunoda into retirement on the opening lap, T-boned Albon out of the points late on and received a redundant five-second penalty that didn’t affect his position, while two of F1’s smaller teams were left to rue huge missed opportunities.

“In Japan it was a short lived recovery for Checo as he sent it into the rear of Kevin Magnussen at the Turn 11 hairpin and needlessly turned the Haas driver around, incurring another five-second penalty in the process.

“It was a move that was no doubt borne out of frustration at being in the fastest car and stuck for longer than anticipated behind Sunday’s slowest team, while being desperate to recover some ground. But it was also an utterly hopeless move for a driver who seems to have forgotten his racecraft.

“Coming from behind and dangling a front wheel into the back of the car ahead is a recipe for a collision. You have no right to the inside of the corner coming from that far back, without asserting yourself there on the brakes and getting significantly alongside by the time the car ahead wants to turn in to the apex.

“This latest move was unlike the Perez of old who has been good and committed on the brakes – but it was worryingly the same style he adopted in Singapore, which was already a talking point coming into the weekend.”

Perez cannot afford a repeat of his Suzuka horrors if he is to hold on to P2 in the Drivers’ Championship, with Hamilton now only 33 points behind.

Read next: Honda’s ominous message for rivals over 2024 Red Bull engine